Brand New Day
by SoldierOfTheSea
Summary: He died that day, that was something he'd never forget, but a certain god couldn't grant him peace just yet. Why let such a prime avatar go to waste? In a world far from his own and gifted with spider-like abilities, Naruto will have to survive and make use of his second chance by donning the mantle of The Amazing Spider-Man. May change to M at a later date.
1. Along Came a Ninja?

"..." - Normal speaking

'...' - Thoughts

 _"..." - Flashbacks_

Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man or Naruto, they belong to their respective owners.

 **AN: Howdy ladies and gentlemen, it's me, the SoldierOfTheSea back and better than ever with a new crossover story, hope you all enjoy!**

New York City, New York; the city so nice, they named it twice, The Big Apple, and a million other names for the island of Manhattan. To many, it was a symbol of American exceptionalism, a tourist attraction, home of Broadway, but to most who lived there, it was just home.

'Or the next best thing anyway… ' It was a quiet evening, the sun setting ever so slowly. For once the day wasn't filled with cold mornings and nightly thunderstorms, and one red-clad man appreciated the change. The figure landed on a rooftop and gazed over the city, the ever-present lights reflecting off of his skin-tight suit. It was simple yet complex, a mix of red and black with the red covering his feet and shins like boots. Stretching from his hands to his forearms as gloves, and finally covering his chest and shoulders before covering his entire head, two white eye lenses in a black outline shining from the darkness. A webbing pattern was spread through the red, with a black spider in the middle of his chest, a dark red spider on his back.

Hearing a police siren in the distance, the man smiled under his mask. "Guess I'll never get a break". With a flick of his wrist, a line of webbing attached to a nearby building, the spider-themed hero jumped off with line in hand. Swinging from the skyscrapers, the masked hero narrowed his eyes, his lenses following suit, zooming in to the current shootout that was occurring on top of the nearby apartment complex.

Watching the SWAT officers rope down from a helicopter and a few officers coming from the roof stairwells, the masked man adjusted his path and landed on a building across from the building in question. Moving a hand up to where his right ear would be, he heard the police confirm that the building had been evacuated and no civilians were harmed.

'I'm glad I finally managed to connect those old police scanners of mine to my mask's system.' Lenses narrowing once again, the spider jumped from his perch and landed on the side of the apartments. He moved in a blur, coming up on the backside of the criminals firing from cover. Webbing an isolated thug to the wall, he shot two web lines and grabbed two more, slamming their heads together and webbing them to the ground.

"Three down, four to go." the spider-like man said to himself before moving back into the shadows.

"Mack, get the money and go! The guys and I will cover you!" the supposed leader of the gang shouted to the now named Mack who had both bundles of cash on his shoulders. Mack, not hiding his fear, followed the order and began running. He ran and ran, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in an effort to find somewhere safe. This was his first job, but it went so wrong so fast. It wasn't supposed to be this way, he didn't mean for that store owner to be shot. Hearing a few screams from behind him he ran faster than before, just wanting to getaway… except he wasn't moving forward anymore, and he was upside down.

Green eyes frantically bounced around his head, trying to truly grasp the situation at hand, covered in a white sticky substance attached to the side of a building, some could even say that he was caught in a web. Mack's breath hitched as a cold sweat rolled down the side of his chin.

"N-no it can't be, y-you're not real, they said the Spider-Man was a myth…" Mack felt his heart drop through his chest as he looked up into the darkness, a pair of white lenses coming ever so close. The spider had come to take its prey. "P-please… don't kill me…" the middle-aged man was crying now, and he could smell the urine that had started to stain the wall and ground underneath.

'Now I kinda feel bad.' the man thought as he rubbed his masked chin and sat up on the wall. A quick smack to the head and the thug was out like a light. The wall-crawler smiled at his work, 'I didn't think I was that scary. Oh well, at least I can go home now.' webbing up the now unconscious man in a cocoon, the hero swung his way back to the rooftop before dropping him, as well as the money, in a pile along with the other webbed up men. Watching the police slowly advance only to find the criminals already subdued was a nice sight, something the hero couldn't help but chuckle at.

"With that out of the way-" the red and black-clad man began to swing once again, away from Gramercy and closer to Midtown, where he landed on the side of a building, the bright neon words on top spelling _Traveler's Place_ reflecting off of the black in his midsection. Opening the window with his fingertips, the man in spandex slid himself into the darkroom and flicked the light switch on. Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, the man closed his window and fell back first into his bed. Sitting up just as quickly, he removed his mask, revealing spiky blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a foxy smile. Stripping away his costume, the young man sighed in relief. Without a thought, he webbed the lights out and proceed to let sleep consume him.

* * *

His name was Naruto Uzumaki, and he was always running out of time. When he had fought against Haku and Zabuza on the bridge, he knew he had to stop them before they hurt Tazuna. When he fought against Gaara at the chunin exams, he had to stop him before Shukaku killed anyone. Chasing Sasuke, Tsunade, the Akatsuki, he had always made it in time, win or lose. He had only been late for two things. He was too late to stop Pein when he destroyed the village and too late to stop Kagura when she cast that damn jutsu, the one that sent him to this world, the one that was meant for Sasuke.

"Ah Mr. Uzumaki, glad you could join us, you always manage to beat the bell, frankly I'm impressed you've been able to stay consistent this semester."

"You know me Dr. Connors, lucky and unpredictable are my middle names." the blond gave a bright smile before taking his seat amongst the nearly full college classroom.

He remembered that day to a tee, the moment his life as he knew it ended. He wondered how he moved so fast, almost fueled by instinct as he watched the portal open right behind Sasuke before pushing him out of the way. He could still hear the screams from his team as the almost gleeful look on Kaguya's face. That's when everything went black, the moment he felt his blood boil out of his skin and every atom of his being torn apart. He died, he was sure of that much, but what the blond ninja didn't expect was to wake up in an astral-like plane in front of a giant spider. Anansi, he hated the spider god with all his heart for not just letting him die wherever the hell he had been, but at least he was given a chance at life again.

"Now, genetic engineering. I'm sure we all know the basics, but what if we could harness it, use it for various purposes, things like the cure for cancer, disabilities…" Connors vaguely gestured to his missing right arm, "Even grow new limbs for old vets like me."

The god had seen his unfortunate end and decided he was a perfect candidate for being what Anansi called a "spider-totem". He was taken from his meeting place almost as soon as he had arrived, waking up attached to foreign machines

 ** _One Year Ago - Lower Manhattan Hospital_**

" _Where the hell am I?" the blond ninja gasped out in a language foreign to his ears, he could barely recognize his own voice. Attempting to move his arms, he was quickly restrained by what he assumed to be nurses as the head doctor walked in._

" _Ah, Mr. Uzumaki, welcome to the land of the living." the older man spoke more words that he had never heard before, words that he somehow understood._

" _Where am I, who are you people, why am I here?!" the former ninja was panicking now, the restraints on his arms and legs nearly breaking as he used all of his strength to do something, anything._

" _Jesus this guy's strong." one of the nurses mumbled in the language again, something that was starting to annoy the blond._

" _Don't worry the sedatives should make sure he can't harm anyone, himself included." he slowly relaxed at the doctor's warm smile. "Now to answer your questions, you're in Lower Manhattan Hospital, New York City. As for us, we are the ones who found you comatose outside our front door. The reason why? We don't know. The only things you had on you was a wallet with your information, a few short blades, and a headband with a leaf on it. Your clothes were so torn up I'm surprised you didn't freeze out there."_

 _Naruto nodded in understanding, not bothering to ask any questions about the language everyone seemed to speak and understand. "How long have I been here?" his eyes told the doctor that he was pushing through his own pain in order to stay calm._

" _You've been here for a month, Mr. Uzumaki, today is October 10th." Naruto relaxed in his bed, still restrained but no longer held down. The nurses had left after he stopped nearly killing them._

' _Either that spider is getting a kick out of the irony, or this is a big coincidence.' taking his time adjusting, blond sage was allowed out of his restraints to get a feel for moving again. Walking to the bathroom, (because having a catheter, whatever that was, taking care of all his fluids was unnerving) he was shocked to see a stranger looking back at him. His usually kept hair had grown in a style similar to his father, framing his face as his spikes frayed around his shoulders. The whisker marks that had marred his face since birth were gone, a fluffy blond beard in its place._

 _"Didn't even think I could grow facial hair…" the bearded man mumbled to himself. All his baby fat was gone, and his eyes were a colder blue, not as optimistic, shaken from a clearly traumatic experience. 'I would say dying works…' he was 18 when he "died", did that make him 19 now? 'Either way,' the young man looked at his shaking hands, 'This is my fresh start, but one day I will find my way back.' he looked out the window, "That's a promise."_

 _Current Time: Empire State University_

" You all know your homework, I'll see you tomorrow, hope you all have a nice Wednesday afternoon, oh and happy birthday Naruto." many in the class stopped their process of packing up, loudly and obnoxiously singing happy birthday to the laughing blond.

"Thank you, everyone, and hey don't forget about the party tonight!" a few whoops from his friends had sounded off and many nodded in remembrance. "You can come if you want to Dr. Connors, it won't be huge or illegal or anything." the professor smiled and waved him off.

"Nonsense, I'll leave you kids to your fun, I have another date anyway." Naruto nodded in understanding before waving goodbye. Taking his steps out of the science hall, the blond let out a breath and made his way toward a nearby alleyway. Disappearing around the corner, the masked vigilante known as 'Spider-Man' leaped from the rooftops, swinging his way north toward Midtown.

'Has it really been a year since I ended up here?' the now 20-year-old asked himself, shooting another web before doing a backflip off of the line. Diving down to the streets, Spider-Man swung from the buildings once again, twisting into the web before jumping off. He webbed his way over to a building before running along the surface. 'As much as I dislike being here, web-swinging never gets old.' the man smiled behind his mask. He had been gifted, or "cursed" as Anansi liked to say, with these powers and the former ninja would make the best of it.

Not being to use chakra anymore was one of the man disappointments that had befallen Naruto since his awakening. He had tried to see if he could reverse summon himself, but that had failed when he couldn't even feel a hint of chakra. It was as if he had all his chakra sucked out of his body, sure he still had his strength and speed, but not even sage mode was accessible for him now. 'Not that I need it with my spider-sense…' the blond vigilante was distracted by his thoughts as gunshots rang out from the relatively quiet streets.

"And there's my cue, my luck never runs out does it." following the police sirens that had sounded, he was surprised to see a convoy of 3 armored trucks taking fire at the encroaching police cruisers and SWAT van. They seemed to be protecting the white truck in the middle of the makeshift escort. 'Well now I know what to go after, but first…' webbing down on the hood he could hear the driver's surprised gasp at his sudden entrance.

"Would you look at that, I caught a live one!" webbing both backseat shooters, Spider-Man webbed the axles of the back wheels, before jumping down and slowing the car down from the front. Watching a few squad cars slow down to arrest the subdued crooks, the web-slinger continued the chase.

"Who the hell is this guy?" One of the shooters in the lead car called out to the driver.

"I don't know, just keep shooting at him!" the driver shouted back, swerving through traffic with occasional glances at his rearview mirror. He had to make sure they got the package to its destination, and the payoff was worth the few mooks he had gotten together for the job.

"... uh, boss?" the man in the passenger seat mumbled out, seemingly in a daze.

"What the f*ck do you want Lar…" the leader stopped dead in his tracks as he watched in awe as a guy in a skin-tight red and black suit jumped in front of his windshield. Slamming on the breaks, hoping to have him go flying, but was denied the satisfaction as the spider-themed hero stayed put. Unfortunately, this caused a pileup, the white truck managing to stop only inches from the bumper of the front.

"Well now that I have your attention. Shall we dance?" the spider jumped off the stopped car before shifting into a combat stance, the men filing out of the two remaining two vehicles.

Deciding to take out the guys with guns first, the superhero rushed one of the men, knocking him into the air before webbing him up and using his body as a flyswatter, sticking him and the other gun guy into the side of a building. The last three thugs, brawlers by the look of it, had decided to rush him at the same time. Dodging an admittedly good punch, Spider-Man jumped over him, webbing his left and right hands so they were crossed over his body, before pulling down slamming the man into the ground. A sneak attack by another was quickly countered, Naruto webbing him to the ground just as quickly.

"What's in the van buddy?" the hero's lenses narrowed as he and the remaining man circled each other.

"None of your business, arachnid!" the criminal spat out in a very obvious French accent.

"Well, that's better than being called a bug…" Seeing that the excitement had drawn a crowd, Naruto flexed his muscles. "Looks like we have an audience, let's finish this shall we?" Charging each other, Spider-Man attempted a high kick, only to be countered with a right hook. Jumping back, Spider-Man motioned his hands to shoot webs, only to get a clicking sound instead.

'Damn it, of course, I'd run out of web fluid now.' the blond raged at himself for being so careless and took a push kick to the chest as a result. "Come on, is that all you got?" the kick had hurt more than he thought it would've, wincing as he got up. The hero's thoughts were interrupted as he watched a few police officers take shots at the man. A perfect distraction. Taking the confusion, the former ninja grabbed a sewer cap out of the ground and started spinning. Like a discus, the cap hit the man in the back, knocking him unconscious instantly.

"Well, that could've gone better." Spider-Man quickly ran to the back of the white van before ripping the door off its hinges. Naruto raised a brow under his mask, something the suit mimicked. Why? Because the entire truck was empty. "Damn, that's disappointing…" looking back at the crowd, the masked hero jumped over to the highest-ranking officer he saw.

"So… you're the vigilante huh?" the Lieutenant looked over to the 6'0 tall man in a skin-tight suit. "I thought you'd be taller, either way, thank you for your help…" the officer raised her eyebrow waiting for an answer.

"I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Lieutenant…" the Uzumaki quickly checked the officer's name tape, "Jones. Have a nice day now." the spider-themed hero shot a web line to the nearest building, ignoring the shouts of awe and cameras following him. 'I've been "superheroing" for months now, about time the public learned who I am.' with that the Web-Slinger continued on his way home, just glad to fight for another day.

 **AN: And that's that. Hell of an intro chapter but I'm sure it'll pick up once we get going. I'll expand more on his backstory as the story goes on. I promise I'll update this one regularly. I actually have an ending planned out, just need to figure out how long it'll take and what I want to do to get there. Also, would you guys want to see me use more Naruto characters or Spider-Man characters? I know some people might say how but keep in mind, this was a universe that Kaguya was able to access easily, it didn't mean she knew what it would do if someone was sent there. Alright, I've rambled enough, see you all next time true believers!**


	2. A Day In the Life

"..." - Normal Speaking

'...'- Thoughts

 _"..." - Flashbacks_

 **AN: Before we start I want to thank all the support you guys have shown. I didn't expect the first chapter to go so well. I hope you all enjoy this one!**

"Who does this "Spider-Man" think he is?! We've been getting suspicious of a new player in town, someone who's dealing with all the crime before the police do, and what do we get? We get some clown in a stupid costume who swings on webs! Next thing you know the 'Devil of Hell's Kitchen' will turn out to be some freak in a costume too." the TV turned off abruptly, receiving a loud groan from the occupant sitting on the couch.

"I was watching that you know?" a blond-haired head popped up from cushions glaring at the slender woman holding the remote in her hand. Her long black hair framed her face, a sly smile combined with a hand on her hip showing that she was enjoying her current power.

"You actually enjoy hearing Jameson ramble this early in the morning?" the girl raised her brow expecting an answer.

"No, but this Spider-Man guy is pretty interesting." the blond got up from the couch and walked behind it, grabbing the remote from the woman's hand. "Just because you don't like Jonah doesn't mean you have to be rude Cindy." The Korean woman rolled her eyes and motioned toward the door.

"Yeah, you're welcome for letting you be a couch potato in my penthouse Johnny, but we're still going to be late." the now-named Johnny sighed, running a hand through his messy hair before sliding his shoes on. Taking the elevator down, the two walked out the door, meeting their assembled friend group waiting for them.

"Ah, Mr. Storm, Ms. Moon, nice of you to join us, now we can all be late to the presentation." the disgruntled voice belonged to a young man, seemingly of similar stature to Johnny but shorter. Brown hair, athletic build, and a tired glare on his face.

"Stop complaining Bobby, Naruto insisted we wait, and we did. You know you're cranky without your iced coffee." another blond, the female of their three-man waiting party was one who was in a similar physique to Cindy. Sharing the same large chest and slender figure, the men having all joked that aside from the ethnic differences and hair color, they could've been twins, she was wearing a black and white sweatshirt with a giant spider on the back.

"My bad "Spider-Gwen", I thought you of all people would want to be on time for one of Connor's presentations. Especially since he's talking about that gene-splicing thing again." Gwen rolled her eyes and punched Bobby in the arm.

"You know I hate that name "Iceman!" the brown-eyed teen glared daggers at the blond, who glared back, her arms crossed under her chest.

"They behave like children, I swear." our blond-haired hero interrupted the slowly growing feud with a casual look at his watch. "Thanks for coming, Cindy, I know you don't really do the whole science thing much, but Gwen insisted that we all go as a group."

The Korean woman smiled at her blue-eyed friend, admiring the way his orange and black jacket hugged his figure, "It's no problem Naruto, I know Gwen would rather drag me through the streets than let me miss one of Dr. Connors presentations." Johnny interrupted the kind moment with a groan, gaining a look of annoyance from Cindy.

"Can we just leave already, it starts at 10:00 and I'm already cold." The short-haired blond rubbed his arms to exaggerate his complaints. Soon enough, the group began walking the streets, making small talk as they went.

"What do you guys think of the now named Spider-Man, other than the fact that Gwen already has a crush on him." Bobby couldn't hide his laughter as Gwen cursed him out.

"I swear to God Drake, I will murder you in your sleep! Just because I like spiders doesn't mean I'm in love with some vigilante who seeming has the powers of one." Gwen huffed in annoyance before continuing. "I've overheard my dad talking to my mom about him, half the force thinks he's doing a great job and the other half wants to bring him in. To be honest, I think it's a slippery slope, power begets power after all." Cindy nodded in agreement but grabbed Gwen's shoulders to fake whisper in her ear.

"Yeah, but c'mon Gwennie, you've gotta admit, that skin-tight suit of his doesn't leave much to the imagination." the blush on Gwen's face told her enough, Cindy moving back to her spot next to Naruto.

"Can we please stop talking about a mystery man's package and keep moving." Bobby decided to speak for his fellow men, getting grateful nods from his friends. Approaching the doors of the ESU Science Hall, the 5 students made their way to the auditorium, where the gene-splicing presentation was to be held. Our protagonist, however, was thinking about when he had first entered the Science Hall.

* * *

" _This is the most advanced scientific tech in the state, but our most prized achievement is our genetically altered spiders. Utilizing our gene-splicing technology, we've combined the abilities of several different spiders in order to make what we like to call our 'super spiders'." Dr. Curtis Connors, if he remembered correctly, explained to the group of freshman touring ESU's laboratory. He had enrolled at the start of the second semester, and he was still getting the hang of this whole student thing again._

' _Most people barely lived to their 30's, let alone 50's. Science has done so many things I wonder if I'd rather have it than chakra.' the ninja pondered to himself. He was learning new things every day, but this science thing had enamored him. Manipulating the world around him, mixing technology and nature, it reminded the blond of what he had to do to obtain Sage Mode or seals. Looking around at his fellow students, Naruto noticed a few people who looked interested, but many who were just going through the motions. 'Guess some people will never truly appreciate what's in front of them…' the blond was pulled out of his thoughts when a red-headed girl who had been watching the spiders raised her hand._

" _You said there were 10, right? I only see 9." Connors tilted his head and walked over to the display cases._

" _Well, one of my colleagues has probably taken it out to work on. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let us make our way to one of our new prototypes, utilizing some contract materials from Oscorp, we've been able to make something of a mini sun…" Connors' voice faded, turning the corner, the school group not far behind. Naruto, distracted by the spiders, failed to notice a very similar arachnid crawling its way down his hand._

* * *

"Naruto, are you okay?" blue eyes snapped open, frantically bouncing around the room before realizing that he had fallen asleep. Gwen eyed him, watching as his breathing slowed down, the tensing in his muscles leaving as soon as it came. They had been in the auditorium for an hour now, listening to Connors give his grandiose speech and watching the gene splicer in action on a couple of bunnies.

"I'm fine Gwen, heh guess the party took out more from me than I thought." the secret hero flashed his perfect smile and put a thumbs up. Gwen blushed at the thought of Naruto's birthday. She vaguely remembered what happened, just that she had been drunk out of her mind and Cindy had been trying her hardest to get in Naruto's pants. It was worth the fun celebrating his 20th birthday, but part of her knew that her fellow blond wasn't one to get tired easily, he was a bundle of joy and energy at all times.

"What was on your mind that got you so startled when I woke you up? Gwen tried to pry.

Naruto unconsciously rubbed the top of his right hand, "It was nothing Gwen, just thinking of Mr. Amal's calculus lectures." they both knew it was a lie, but Gwen knew pushing it would go nowhere. Watching the lights turn on, the two shared a look before filing out of the auditorium among the crowd.

"Just admit it, Cindy, admit that you and Johnny did it last night!" the two blonds were greeted with Bobby pointing an accusatory finger at Cindy while Johnny looked proud of himself. The aforementioned accused looked two seconds away from strangling said accuser.

"Robert Drake I will hang you from your balls if you put that finger anywhere in my space again! And for the last time, I did not sleep with Johnny, he was about as aware as a man on horse tranquilizers. It would've been rude for me to leave him for Naruto to take care of." taking the chance to stop the bickering, Naruto coughed into his hand with an amused look on his face.

"While I'm up for spilled tea any time of the week, I need to get to work." Bobby walked over and bro-hugged him, Johnny following suit before winking at Cindy, earning a growl from the older woman, and leaving alongside his best friend.

"Naruto how do you deal with them?"

"Same way Gwen does, I block out 90% of what they say." Cindy laughed before looking at the former ninja's ice-blue eyes.

"So, we never really talked about that birthday present I was going to give you…" the 21-year old trailer a finger up his chest, savoring the feeling of his abs and defined muscles.

"You know I would love to talk about it more, but Gwen is right there, and I really do have to get to the Bugle." Cindy turned around displeased, seeing the small smirk on Gwen's face.

"Fine, I'll see you later, my Maelstrom." blowing a kiss and a quick wink, the Asian woman swayed her hips as she walked, getting a huff from Gwen.

"Aww is Ms. Stacy jealous?" Gwen glared at him, Naruto putting his arms up in defense.

"You know I hate when she does that. It makes me feel like I'm third-wheeling, and you two aren't even dating." the younger Stacy sighed, before checking her watch. "I've got to get to class, but I'll see you tomorrow, Fishcake." Kissing his cheek, his fellow sophomore started power walking towards the main building, still managing to entrap Naruto's gaze with ease.

"What was that old phrase Shikamaru used, 'Women are so troublesome?' That fits pretty well right now buddy." walking into the men's bathroom, he looked up to the skylight in thought before taking off his shirt. 'I wonder how you'd react if you could see me now.'

* * *

The trip from campus to the Bugle was quieter than he thought it would be, having changed on the roof before heading in through a bathroom window. "I swear I never go through the front door anymore, is this what my life has come to, relegated to using bathrooms, never again being able to walk through another revolving door? The agony!" the superhero rolled his eyes at his own joke before making his way to the workroom. "Afternoon Robbie!" Naruto said with a smile, walking into the man's office and moving to take a seat at his desk.

"Afternoon to you too Naruto, how's it's going at school?" Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle was a black man in his mid-to-late 50's, sporting grey hair and a kind smile. He had hired him initially because of his bilingual ability for Japanese but had since unofficially promoted him to his assistant.

"Ah you know, same old same old. I don't think I'll ever get used to all these lectures." Robbie was a good man and a trustworthy one. He remembered shortly after gaining his powers looking for work, when he heard the Bugle was hiring people who spoke oriental languages, he couldn't resist. Robbie treated him kindly, and aside from the rapping, reminded him of Killer B when he would get serious.

"Hey, I know you're working on the stuff I gave you last week but do you think you can look into this spider guy? I know you're focused on being a historical journalist, that's what we pay you for, but Jonah really wants some pics of Spider-Man. Do you think you could do it with that old-fashioned camera of yours?" Naruto lowered his eyes to his backpack, pulling out the old fashioned camera. It was a lot more advanced than the cameras of his world but still older than what most of the Bugle's photographers had.

" _This camera means a lot to me, helped me through the war, I want you to have it son…"_

"Naruto?" the blond's eyes snapped up and his trademark smile graced his face.

"No problem Robbie, if I see him I'll snag some pictures, you can count on me." the older man smiled and patted him on the back.

"Good, oh and by the way, I'm paring you with one of our new hires we got last week. She's an investigative journalist and she'll be going down to Little Asia with you to work on a story of hers. Something about the new F.E.A.S.T shelter that's starting up." grabbing the phone on his desk, he phoned Jameson's secretary, Betty Brandt, to send the new girl in. Naruto smiled at the thought of Betty. 26 years old, black hair styled in a bob cut, and an infectious smile.

'I should ask her out for coffee sometime, she doesn't get enough appreciation being JJ's go-to person to yell at.' the 20-year-old was pulled out of his thoughts when a dark head of hair popped into the office.

"Ah, there you are. Naruto, this is Mary Jane Watson, the newly dubbed investigative journalist for the Daily Bugle." Robbie said in a presenting fashion.

"Oh please, call me MJ 'Ruto." the now-named MJ was a sight to behold. A perfect heart-shaped face, a light brown jacket that hugged her hourglass figure in a way that shouldn't be possible. Seeing Naruto's bewildered face, the redhead smiled and put her hand on her hip and winking. "Face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot."

* * *

Thankfully MJ had a car, which would've made the already awkward commute even worse for the two adults. Naruto, feeling embarrassed for his "deer in headlights" moment began asking questions to break the ice. "So, what got you in to into investigative journalism?"

Mary Jane smiled at his very present awkwardness and answered, "I've always wanted to be close to the action you know? I wanted to see what New York City was really about." looking at the former shinobi, Mary Jane raised her eyebrow. "Have I see you somewhere before, Uzumaki? I mean with a name as unique as yours I doubt I would forget."

Naruto smiled faintly at the memory. "I believe I remember a certain redheaded woman during our last science field trip a month before freshman year ended." MJ found a parking spot before gesturing for them to get out. Walking amongst the bustling market, Naruto asked another question, "Why haven't I see you around since the trip? I know you haven't dropped out or anything."

"I've just been taking my essentials. Plus I don't stay around campus much, my second job gets in the way." taking a picture of a jade statue on sale, Naruto chuckled at her nonchalant attitude.

"Second job? What in the world could beat doing JJJ's grunt work?" she laughed at his joke.

"Heh, I like your style, tiger. And my second job is being a model, nothing too flashy, but I enjoy it." walking over to a homeless man on the street, she started asking him if he knew about F.E.A.S.T and how he ended up on the street. Watching her made Naruto wonder if that love at first sight thing was real.

'She's almost perfect, too good to be true.' He pinched himself wanting to see if he was dreaming, but to no avail. 'No no no, not this one Uzumaki, you already have two girls to deal with, don't think I can afford more drama.' He sighed into his hands, before running one through his hair. "I don't know what could be worse this or…" an explosion sounded out as screams of terror rang out into the streets. "Oh come on, me and my big mouth.

 **AN: And without fail, the somewhat normal day of our hero has come to an end. I apologize to anyone who wanted a more action-packed chapter, I promise there will be plenty of fighting next time. Oh, and also, a Guest review commented that my writing style doesn't flow well. If anyone else feels that way go ahead and voice it, and I'll change it up. Until then, read, review, show me some love, and have a wonderful day!**


	3. Welcome To the Big Leagues

A"..." - Normal Speaking

'...'- Thoughts

" _..." - Flashbacks_

 **AN: I'm back once again, with an action-packed chapter once again. Special thanks to all the people who reviewed, even the ones who don't necessarily like my direction. I do read and try to reply to every single review. So be it criticism, suggestions, or comments, let them be known! Without further ado, let us begin.**

Sometimes, Naruto wondered if he'd ever get used to being a full-time superhero. Being a ninja was similar, but it had its differences. Getting paid for doing specific tasks was one of them, as was having an abundance of people who could do the same thing you could do, if not more. He missed having people he could rely on, even after gaining the powers of the Six Paths, he didn't want to do it alone. He couldn't have done it alone. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't a god, he was just a man who had been given special abilities. A burden to many, and he had thought the same of Kurama at first, but he knew that he wouldn't have been the same without the fox.

And now, once again, he was in a world that despised who he was, cursed with a power that gave him a responsibility that he didn't ask for. And yet again he knew he wouldn't have been the same man without them. Only this time he was all alone.

"Mary Jane, I need you to get out of here right now!"

"W-what?" the woman looked around in a daze as the market broke out in a panic. She looked into Naruto's eyes and saw not a hint of panic in them, something she wasn't sure scared her or reassured her. "Naruto, what do you mean, aren't you coming too?"

Naruto bit his lip, he should've known she was going to ask questions, it was her job after all. Deciding on a decent lie the blond grabbed her hands and smiled. "I have a few family members down here, I need to make sure they're okay. The F.E.A.S.T. shelter isn't far if you're adamant about staying close. Go there and talk to the owner, Martin Li, tell him I sent you."

Nodding her head, she took one last glance at him before running in the direction of the crowd. 'I hope you know what you're doing tiger…' she thought before focusing on getting to safety.

Naruto, taking advantage of the empty streets, jumped on a wall before crawling his way up to the roof. "Now time to find out what the hell is going on." taking off his clothes as fast as possible, the blond decided it would be best if he left his backpack behind, webbing it to the wall of the building behind him.

Pulling his mask down, the fully costumed hero leaped towers the street, firing a web line to begin his trek. "I would kill for some shadow clones about now, would make clean-up a hell of a lot easier."

It looked almost as if a bomb had gone off, black scorch marks surrounding the entrance to the local Chinatown bank, _The Jade Palace._ The doors were blown apart, and he sighed seeing a few lifeless bodies near cars. The former ninja tapped his earpiece, wanting to see if he would have any reinforcements or clue for whatever he was dealing with. His mood soured, not hearing a single mention of a bomb, only vague reports of a gas leak causing an explosion. The closest unit was 20 minutes away, which was time the hero didn't have.

* * *

Looking around the area the blond couldn't help but agree, "There's not a single piece of debris that makes it look like a bomb. No shrapnel, not tech, nothing…" Spider-Man was taken out of his thoughts when he heard a man humming a tune, walking out of the broken doors in front of him with two sacks of cash. The man, who he assumed had caused the explosion, had a shaved head and a green jacket on. Across his face seemed to be some kind of scar but he couldn't get a clear look at. Wearing black jeans and a pair of brown boots, he looked about as average as one could get in New York during the fall.

"Spider-Man, I was hoping you'd accept my invitation. It's a pleasure to see you in person." the man's voice was one of confidence and unwavering determination. Reminded him of how some high ranking ninja would speak back when he was a genin, full of themselves and their abilities. Unfortunately, nine out of ten times they were never all bark and no bite. They had become feared for a reason, and Spider-Man wasn't about to drop his guard now.

'I've come a long way from the naive 13-year old kid I used to be.' the masked vigilante thought with a frown.

"Well, you know us spiders, can't resist a good time. Especially when it leads to the deaths of innocent people." Naruto spoke, his lenses narrowing as he tightened his fists. So much destruction and death just to call him out? It didn't make any sense. Taking a step toward the man, Naruto webbed the bald man's hands together and his feet to the ground. "Just give up and come quietly, I don't want to hurt you if I don't have to."

The man in green's smile widened even more as the web-head slowly made his way closer. "Hurt me? I think you're the one who has to be afraid of getting hurt..." the man said it with such confidence that Naruto couldn't help but be put on edge. His lenses snapped open, as he watched the webs covering his limbs burn away. Looking into the man's eyes, he watched as they gained a yellow hue and a crackle of lightning flow through them. Sparks started to dance across his skin before it soon became pure electricity, his eyes now glowing completely, the same yellow lightning as the one around his body.

"What the hell?!" the hero quickly rolled to the side to dodge a bolt of yellow lightning sent his way. "How are you doing this? Just who the hell are you?" the blond's questions went unanswered, his only response a loud laugh and more arcs of lightning.

"Did you think you were the only freak in town, think again bug boy!" rising from the ground, Naruto watched as the scar on his face filled with electricity, forming a lightning bolt across the man's face. "Who am I? I guess you can call me, Electro!"

The red and black vigilante vaguely wondered to himself how similar this "Electro's" abilities would be to the Lightning Style of his world. 'As long as he can't call down a dragon from the sky, I think I can beat him.' Spider-Man started shooting web bullets at Electro, knowing it wouldn't have much effect, but it would be enough for the blond to get to the nearby fire hydrant.

"Well then Electro, I guess you didn't get the memo," the web-slinger grabbed one of the letters from the destroyed bank logo, smacking the flying man in the back and causing him to land on the hood of a nearby car. Punching the cap off of the front of the hydrant, Naruto directed the water to hit Electro, earning a gut retching scream in return. "I'm the head of the super freak club, the rule is one freak per borough. You're one too many."

'That was easier than expected…' the hero thought before feeling a chill go down his spine. Electro, the man who could control electricity, was laughing as he lied in the large puddle that had formed in the car's roof, seemingly unaffected by the water the superhero thought had incapacitated him.

'Well… that explains the easy part, it seems that water doesn't affect him like I thought it would.' Naruto thought.

"I haven't felt pain like that in a long time." the bald man locked his eyes with the hero, a manic smile spread across his face. Naruto could almost hear a pin drop at how quiet it was. It felt as if the man was staring into his soul. "Don't look so scared, Spider-Man, the fun is just beginning!"

Floating above the ground once again, Electro let out a pulse of electricity, and the Spider-Man watched as bodies, debris, and cars starting floating into the air. This led to the red-clad man once again being thrown on the defensive, dodging lightning bolts and boulders alike.

'Looks like he's able to use his electrokinesis to manipulate objects,' Spider-Man grunted as the edge of a thrown piece of glass cut across his back. 'And obviously, he knows how to aim and throw them well enough.' he couldn't maintain this cat and mouse. No matter how much of a savior his spider-sense was, he would eventually tire out or slip up. 'I need to end this.' He thought with a frown.

Sticking to the side of a wall, Naruto almost slapped himself at the very obvious fact that Electro had only been fighting one specific way. Jumping down to the ground, the blond put his plan into action.

"C'mon Electro is that all you've got, why can't you fight me man to man?" he leaned back as a bolt of lightning went over his head. "I know it's your first superhero battle, so I get it if you're nervous, don't worry, performance on the first time is always rough."

"Will you just shut the hell up you annoying pest!"

"Ah Ah Ah, language sparky." this is what he needed, a loss of focus. Grabbing one of the wet car doors, he quickly spun around and tossed it straight at Electro. Just as quickly, Spider-Man grabbed a jagged piece of the door frame that had been sitting in a puddle before jumping at the man right behind the door. Destroying the door, Electro wasn't prepared to see Spider-Man right behind it, with a fist coming ever so close to his face.

Sucker punching him out of the air was one of the most satisfying things that the former ninja could say he had done. Bending the piece of metal in his hands into a U shape, Naruto grappled Electro's downed form before pinning him down.

"Positive to positive, Electro. Negative to ground. You spend too much time on the ground when you're powered up you start losing charge don't you? That's why you like flying so much." holding down the bald man's arms, Naruto grunted as Electro kept struggling, more and more rays of electricity bounding from the restrained man.

'Damn it…' the blond bit his tongue to keep from screaming, feeling his suit start to melt and stick to his skin.

Soon enough the man had stopped squirming, his energy output drained into the metal that was sticking into the ground. Rolling off of the now unconscious super-powered crook, Naruto let out a labored sigh while groaning in pain. He was bleeding, a lot, probably internally as well, and he could feel the granite of the parking lot on his skin, which meant his suit was in serious disrepair. He could faintly hear the sounds of police sirens approaching and knew he had to move. If they found him in this state, he would be unmasked for sure and any sense of normalcy or hope for home was done for. He needed to keep fighting, to find any answers he could.

"C'mon body, work you piece of crap…" the blond berated himself, looking at his now exposed fingers and tried to bear through the pain to no avail. 'Is this the end for me? Slowly bleeding out right next to a man who can control electricity?' the blond smiled at the irony before resigning to his fate. 'You know what, that's not too bad…'

Just before his body shut down, however, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and put over someone's shoulder.

"Don't worry friend, your time hasn't come yet." a gruff voice sounded out. Naruto could've sworn he had heard it before but wasn't able to pinpoint it. The last thing he saw was a flash of red and black.

"Sasuke?"

* * *

" _Sasuke?" the old man had interrupted his story with a quizzical look. Naruto, while loving the man to death, had started to find his interruptions annoying._

" _Yes old man, the same one who I've been talking about for the past hour." Naruto received a smack to the head from the man's cane, a look of satisfaction on his face._

" _Don't get sassy with me boy, I was wondering why did you allow yourself to take the hit for him?" Naruto lowered his eyes as the older man continued. "From what you told me he was quite the asshole, why would you throw away your life for his? He could have dodged it himself you know?"_

" _I know Mr. Reilly, but it's just…" the blond hesitated with his next words. "He was my brother, and even though he had given up on me so many times before, the Six Paths had told us that we were destined to fight. I wanted to end that cruel cycle of hatred all of his children's reincarnations suffered. If that means I had to give up my life for Sasuke then I would."_

 _Ben Reilly was a kind old man who had been Naruto's transition to his world. The 96-year-old Japanese man had found him wandering in Little Asia for hours before inviting him into his ramen stand. He was the first person to listen to Naruto's story and not call him insane. The man was born in raised in Japan before coming to the US for citizenship. Soon after, World War 2 broke out and he and his wife were sent to an internment camp._

 _Reilly_ _knew that he couldn't live his life in a cage, so he said goodbye to his wife and unborn son and enlisted in the Army. He was sent to fight his own people, side by side with Japanese American men who were doing the same. He killed and watched his people die hundreds of times over that he had become numb to the killing. He was lost in his world when the war was over but found solace in the pictures he had taken during the conflict. With a son and wife at home, the man needed to provide. So he became a freelance photographer and opened a ramen stand from the profits. When he had told Naruto his story, all in Japanese, the blond knew he had found someone he could trust._

" _I once thought just as you did Naruto, willing to sacrifice everything for my brothers i00n battle. I know that if I was faced with that choice years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated. But now that you're here, you're your own man now. You have to think about what's best for you before you go and get yourself killed... again." the old man tapped the blond's heart and gave him a wry smile._

" _Heh, sure thing old man."_

" _Good, now go finish the dishes so we can watch a movie tonight."_

* * *

A bright light was the first thing that greeted his eyes. He hoped to Kami he wasn't in a hospital. Sitting up, the blond realized that he was not in a hospital at all, he was laying on a couch in what looked to be a mid-income apartment.

"Where the hell am I?" the blond's question was interrupted by someone opening the fridge in the small kitchen behind him.

"Well good morning to you too Spider-Man." the man behind the kitchen counter looked a couple of years older than him, late 20's at best. He was sporting a rough stubble and humble smile. The man's dark reddish-brown hair was messy and his eyes seemed to be unfocused.

"Uh hi, do I know you?" the blond asked his question as nicely as possible, but there was a venomous undertone. The man seemed to hear it, and laughed, running a hand in his hair before fixing the tie around his neck. 'All without looking away, what's with this guy?

"I suppose this suit isn't familiar to you, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. On the other hand, how are your wounds?" Naruto blinked before looking down at his body. Seeing a wrap around his torso and various bandages and gauze on his limbs, the blond took a second to quickly say fine before reaching for his face.

"Why'd you take my mask off?" clearly the man had patched him up, but he still didn't want to be too comfortable. He had to figure out a motive. The redhead smiled and took another sip of his coffee before, turning around to rummage through his cabinets.

"It was worse for wear than most of your suit, but to be fair, I can't see anyway." that's when Naruto noticed the man wasn't looking up to find anything, only using his hands to feel around. The man in a suit turned around and began to make two sandwiches, all without looking at his hands,

"I get it now, you're blind." the smile on the suited man's face widened as he finished one of the sandwiches. "But that doesn't explain who you are?"

"Well my name is Matt Murdock, during the day I'm a lawyer, but you may know me better for my night job, Mr. 'hoodie and a sunglasses for a costume'." Naruto's eyes widened as he started processing information. He remembered the reference, it was his first attempt at a costume, and only two people had ever seen it. Ben, and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen himself during their first run when we got his powers.

"You're Daredevil." Matt nodded to the statement. "That makes a lot more sense now, but how did you get to Chinatown so fast? I know you're not one for straying too far from Hell's Kitchen, especially not in the middle of the day." the blind man walked around the kitchen counter, handing Naruto his sandwich before sitting in the chair next to his couch.

"I was out doing some civilian business, but I'm thankful I was around."

"Yeah, you saved my ass out there. Did the cops end up getting Electro?"

"It was on the news this morning, to be frank, I'm impressed, kid. You've come a long way from a kid beating up muggers in back alley's every night." Naruto rolled his eyes at Matt's comment.

"Hah, yeah sure. Now I'm a guy that beats up muggers in a red and black suit every day and night. And this coming from the guy who goes all 'fear the night' on them." Matthew laughed at the jab, replying with a quick " _Touche_ ".

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, both eating and thinking back to a much simpler time. "The name is Naruto by the way. Naruto Uzumaki." Matt raised an eyebrow.

"I never took you for Japanese. Your English is perfect and your hair is about as thick as mine." the web-slinger hesitated before deciding to lie. There was no need to open that can of worms yet.

"My father was American, my mom was an immigrant. I get most of my looks from him." Matt nodded in understanding before feeling his watch and getting, picking up the blond's trash from the coffee table on his way to the door. "Hey, how do you do that?"

"Do what?" Matt asked with a sly smirk.

"You say you're blind yet you move like any other person with sight." Matt nodded before tapping the sunglasses he put on his face.

"We all have our secrets don't we, oh, and your suit is in the chest by the door. You can stay as long as you need Naruto, though I imagine with how much your phone was ringing last night…" walking out of the door, Matt knew that his fellow vigilante would leave as soon as he was able, the same thing he would do.

'He reminds me of myself, stubborn with a reason to hate crime.'

The redhead's cliffhanger was enough to convince the blond to look at his phone before he groaned. 20 missed calls, and over 50 missed messages on his phone from all his friends.

"Is it only 9:00 am?" Naruto groaned before falling back onto the couch. 'Never have I wished for the weekend more than now.' he thought with a frown. He couldn't get a break, could he?

 **AN: Wow, what an ending. Naruto fights, his first super villain, gets messed up, and then meets Daredevil. Many of you are probably wondering why DD would reveal his identity, I say that he had met the hero before and he's not stupid. He knows the city is too big for just one man, and Spider-Man wants the same thing as him, so why not get some help. The next chapter will be Naruto dealing with the fallout of his absence that night and deciding what to do with his destroyed suit. As always, read, review, and have a nice night!**


	4. Growing Pains

"..." - Normal Speaking

'...' - Thoughts

 _"..." - Flashbacks_

 **AN: Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm back. I know it's been a few days, I decided to slow my roll since I updated 3 days in a row, plus I had a little trouble getting through the first half. And can I just say that Spider-Man PS4 comes out in a week and I'm literally fanboying so hard. I'm legitimately thinking about calling in sick on Friday. Oh and if anyone wanted to know what artist I'm thinking of when I write this, Camuncoli is my main man. I love his art so much. Either way, on with the show!**

Never before had a Friday morning brought him such dread, the dull pain of his burns being overlooked for the headache he knew was coming. Slowly getting up from Murdock's couch, Naruto walked into the kitchen to get some water. Opening his phone, the underwear-clad blond decided to bite the bullet, playing back the earliest voicemail he had.

"Hey tiger, I made it to the F.E.A.S.T. shelter, talked to Li. He said that I can stay as long as I want and you should make your way." hearing MJ trying to hide her concern was cute, it was nice that she cared about him. His small smile turned into a frown as he continued to listen to the messages. Her voice had started to become strained as the day went on, and he could hear her crying by the time the day was over.

'I can't help but feel bad. Even if it was out of my control, I did just leave her hanging there.' the blond shifted to the messages from the rest of his friends. He was relieved to see that both Bobby and Johnny had their own personal versions of "I heard what happened, hope you're okay." Looking to Gwen and Cindy, he cringed at the various messages allotted between the two. While Gwen's were more sincere, Cindy was definitely the one who was more worried.

'I should call her, tell her I'm okay. Maybe even ask about that birthday present she wanted to give me.' those thoughts then led to another sigh, something the blond felt he had been doing since he woke up. He currently had two girls who were vying for his attention, and he was pretty sure he had damn near secured a third with how much Mary Jane seemed to be concerned with his safety.

"She's just being nice, besides, I haven't talked to her since the summer and I bet she already has enough male attention." the wounded hero made his way to the box sitting next to the door, ready to get out and about. 'Besides the fact that I have a class at noon.' he thought.

Opening the chest, Naruto was surprised to see Matt's suit just sitting there. While it wasn't the first time he had seen the blind lawyer's costume up close, it was an entirely different feeling seeing the costume empty. His suit was red and black, similar to his, but much sturdier. The red sections acted as padding for blunt force and the black acted as the material around the joints, things that would be more flexible. Picking up the mask, Naruto was surprised (though he really shouldn't have been) that the eyes in Daredevil's mask were completely solid.

"I guess Matt really doesn't need it…" the blond hero thought to himself before looking at his own costume.

Picking up his mask first, the former ninja knew he would have to do some major upgrades when he got back home. Above his right eye lens was a sizeable hole on the top of his head, big enough to put three fingers through. In addition to that his left lens had a large crack running through it and the mouth part of his mask seemed about ready to fall off. He turned the mask inside out, seeing that his ocular sensors were fried and his old-fashioned earpiece embedded in his mask was broken. He begrudgingly put his mask down, before looking back into the box. Matt had done a surprisingly good job getting him out of costume, neatly stacking his boots, gloves, belt, and web-shooters before folding up his shirt and leggings.

Examining his web-shooters, the wrist-mounted devices had, fortunately, stayed intact, but Naruto knew he would have to redesign them soon enough. Placing the cuffs around his wrist, he tested them to make sure they worked reminding him of the first time he had used them.

* * *

" _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…" a young man standing on top of a building seemingly told himself, pacing back and forth. His golden blond hair practically shouted to be noticed as the sun slowly set in New York. After he was bitten by that spider, he had been given abilities that astounded even him. Which is why he decided to make use of his lab time and make something he felt could help him test his powers. A simple mixing of chemicals, that had the elasticity of a spider web. When he had first used his invention, it reminded him of that Kidōmaru guy, but he figured that he must've been doing something right for a guy trying to imitate a spider._

 _Looking out into the city, the former ninja took a deep breath, swallowed the lump in his throat, and jumped straight off the building._

* * *

Having finished getting dressed, his mask in his hands, Naruto was in the process of thinking about his next move before the door to Matt's swung open, a lanky blonde woman coming through.

"Hey Matt, I wanted to catch you before you got to the office and ask if you wanted to go out and get some coffee…" Karen froze, surprised at seeing a man standing above the chest where Matt's suit was. He had on a red and black outfit, though it looked like it had been through the wringer with multiple holes and tears. She almost laughed seeing him frantically trying to fix the mask he had put on just as she opened the door, a small tuff blond, spiky hair coming out of the top.

"Uh… hi?" and for the second time today, Naruto was put into a situation with his pants down, or mask down? He offered a smile he hoped she accepted his apologies.

"You're that Spider-Man guy, aren't you?" Karen asked, receiving a quick nod from the hero. "Enough said, funny enough you're not the weirdest thing I've seen in Matt's apartment."

"Thank you?" the blond tilted his head, clearly surprised and confused about how she accepted it so easily but was shooed off by the woman. "Well hope you have a nice day Miss…"

"Page, Karen Page."

"... Did you just make a James Bond reference?"

"Just get out of here before I make you an offer you can't refuse, webhead," Naruto smirked once again at Karen. She was definitely a keeper. Swinging from the balcony, our web clad hero did his best to enjoy himself before the cruel fate of reality took over. It was 11:15, just enough time to get some clothes from his apartment and make it to class. Diving down to the streets below, Spider-Man did backflips while free falling, snagging onto a building with a web line right before he hit a truck. Pulling himself higher into the air, he ran across a building before webbing his way around the corner. Swinging lower to the street, he smiled as the people watched in awe at the man, wondering what was going through his mind.

'Man I really hope people can't see my butt from up here. I don't know how long the suit will last before falling apart.' The blond saw the familiar letters of the top of his apartment and quickly web zipped to the side of the building. Right before entering, however, Naruto felt a buzzing sensation on his belt. Taking out his phone, the blond went to remove his glove to use his fingerprint before remembering that half of his right hand was uncovered. Sighing for what seemed like the 100th time today, the former ninja sat on the side of his building and answered the call.

"So, Karen just told me she met Spider-Man…" Naruto could almost see the look of annoyance and regret on Matt's face.

"Yeah, if you had told me we'd be having guests, I would've whipped something up in the kitchen."

"I'm sorry I put you in that situation Naruto, are you sure she didn't see your face?" the blond appreciated the man's concern, but his spider-sense had given him enough warning.

"It's all good man, don't worry about it. Uh, how did you manage to get your number into my phone if you're blind?" the hero had moved inside and was putting a long sleeve shirt over his suit.

"Siri is a beautiful thing." Naruto laughed but accepted the answer. "Either way, I just wanted to make sure the number worked out and apologize. If you need anything, you know what to do."

Putting his phone back into his belt, Naruto jumped on to the window ledge and looked over at the city. It was only 11:37, more than enough time to swing by the south side of the island. He had cut some corners in order to make sure he wasn't late, putting his civilian clothes over his costume.

"Now I just hope no one looks up." jumping from his window the masked hero did his best to not feel awkward. Swinging around with his backpack and shoes on felt odd, but it would have to do for now.

* * *

He should've taken the subway, at least then he wouldn't have had to stop a jewelry store robbery that he had just happened to pass by, a block away from campus nonetheless. "Sorry Mr. Amal, I guess I'll have to miss one of your amazing lectures." who was he kidding, he hated math back when he was in the Academy, the sentiment hadn't changed.

"Just put the damn jewels in the bag and I won't hurt you lady!" the man pressed the barrel of his pistol to the woman's chest, earning yet another string of cries and pleads. The leader, wearing a hockey mask, rolled his eyes and sighed. He would have preferred to not break the glass but this woman wasn't budging.

"Boys, plan B, smash and grab." the other three men nodded before proceeding to break the glass cases holding the jewelry.

"Guy's if you're going to rob a store, maybe don't do it in the middle of the day? It's like you wanted me to show up." The leader cursed, all four men training their weapons on the superhero standing outside of the store window.

"Waste this fucker!" Naruto's lenses widened as he heard safeties click off, watching as the robbers began to pull the triggers on their weapons. Jumping to the side, he watched as the men walked through the now broken window. They were all dressed in suits, but he could see the very clear signs of body armor.

"Would you look at, you sure you want to go at us Spidey? You look pretty roughed up." Naruto narrowed his eyes tightening his fists. He already was missing one of his only classes of the day, getting talked down two by some thug in a hockey mask was not on his to-do list. The four men all looked trained, standing in a diamond formation, but they obviously didn't know what he could do.

Shooting a web line to a nearby car door, Naruto ripped it off, before swinging it at the men. The four ducked in response but Naruto kept on the offensive. Spider-Man jumped into the air before shooting two webs on the side of one of them and pulling himself down. One of the criminals pulled up his rifle and let off a few rounds, Spider-Man easily dodging the bullets.

"I've had enough of this crap today!" the blond webbed the man's hands, before swinging him around and throwing him at the jewelry store wall. With another volley of webs, the man was stuck to the wall. Seeing the last two, having resigned to using fists and a knife respectively. Letting them charge him, the spider evaded multiple knife slashes, countering with a punch to the gut. The man crumpled down, slowly reaching unconsciousness. The last one, who looked like he was about to wet himself, put his hands up.

"I give Spida-Man, I give." Naruto gave the man one look, before webbing his shoulders and pulling him to the ground, shooting another web to make sure he stayed there.

"Alright, you can go call the cops now!" the vigilante shouted before swinging towards campus again. While he was glad he had helped people, his responsibilities as Spider-Man were starting to impede on his life. 'I've been given these extraordinary powers, but is it worth it?'

* * *

He walked into the common hall, watching as 18 to 20 somethings mingled with each other, eating, gossiping, and currently angrily walking up to him.

"Hey, Cid-" a loud smack rang out, getting a few people to look his way.

"Where the hell have you been?! We're watching the news about the explosion and suddenly I get a call from Gwen that you're down there!" Naruto could see the hurt in her eyes at his absence. She slowly took a breath before pulling him into a hug.

"I thought I had lost you Naruto…" the blond in question sighed, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry Cindy, I really am. But I'm fine now, so don't worry."

"Well, fine. If you really mean it." her annoyance and anger slowly disappeared as she melted into his chest. "I was just so scared, I don't know what I'd do without you." he felt her turn her head to look and him and he smiled. She knew that the two of them had never done more than innocently flirt but the way he made her heart flutter every time she let herself into his ice-blue eyes, she couldn't stop herself.

"Are you okay now Cid…" the secret hero was surprised as Cindy Moon, a 21-year-old junior of Empire State University, one of the most well-known people on campus, the girl who had her own penthouse, kissed him right then and there. Hearing a few "ooh's" and "I told you so's" made the blond wonder just how long she had been meaning to do this. Releasing the kiss, the Korean woman smiled and let go of him and walking away, not without winking at him, however.

"Wow… that was… nice." Naruto checked his watch and decided to get to his photography class. However, even with his superior senses, he was unaware of the visibly hurt Gwen Stacy standing alongside Johnny and Bobby.

* * *

Swinging back to his apartment, Naruto couldn't help but keep the smile off his face. He had talked to Cindy after his class had ended and she had agreed to go on a date with him. His life was finally turning for the better, or at least he liked to this so. He walked down the side of his complex, dancing down to his window with every step. He slid his way inside and began to throw his costume onto his work table. Improvements needed to be made, and he knew just who could help him. Opening his cell, he quickly dialed the number and waited.

"Hey Max, you remember that project I was working on, well I wanted to tell you that I've decided to start phase two. No, I don't know who he is, I just like the ideas." Pulling out his sketchbook, the blond flipped a couple of pages before landing on his current suit design. "I need to figure out how to increase durability and prevent easy tearing. What was that stuff you said you had, kevlar? Yeah, I'll need some of that. Ooh and some carbon fiber." the blond flipped another page, looking over the red and blue sketch that took up the page. He smiled at the little note he had that indicated that his eyes and spider on his chest would be glowing. 'An all-new and all different look for him' Max had said when Naruto had first come up with the design.

"Maybe next time baby." the blond said to himself before continuing his list of materials that he was buying from Modell. "I really hope this doesn't cut into my rent." Naruto looked at his torn up suit before sighing. "I guess I can live off of a few Ramen cups until my next paycheck."

 **AN: And there we have it, Naruto is upgrading his suit, has a date with Cindy, and things are finally starting to look up for the web swinger. I hope you all enjoyed it, even though it was a bit shorter. I try to make all my chapters at least 3,000 words and I only got to a little over 2,700. Oh and side note, I really want to express how much it means to me that you guys are enjoying my story. I find myself constantly checking my emails for any reviews, follows, or favorites. It keeps me going, honestly reading a review, any review brightens my day. (Pro-tip, I always want to write whenever I get suggestions in reviews). Anyway, as always, read, review, and have a wonderful day!**


	5. Friday Night Lights

**AN: Welp, I wanted to get this out sooner but Spider-Man sucked me up. I've already dedicated so much time to it. Enough rambling, let's get into it.**

" _Ooh fancy place you've brought me too." Cindy looked around in awe at the ornate prestige of the restaurant that Naruto had brought her to. Jade colored dragons lined the ceiling as bamboo draped lights hung from above._

" _Well, I figured that you deserved something more special than a burger or pizza place." Naruto signaled to a host, asking for a table for two in Japanese. The older man smiled and gestured for the two to follow. Arriving at a booth, the two began small talk to break the semi-awkwardness that had settled in._

" _Naruto just what the hell were you doing over there in the first place?" the blond sighed, he knew this was coming._

" _My friend Mary Jane, she works at the Bugle with me and we had an assignment down there. That's when the explosion happened. I just wanted to check up on some family that I had out there." their food had arrived and soon enough they were knee-deep in another conversation._

" _You've never told me much about your family Naru; I mean you know mine I think." the secret hero nodded, slurping up some Ramen and eating a pork bun before attempting to conceal his belch._

" _Not much to tell, I never really knew my parents, the died when I was born. But my uncle, he was a character, he took care of me soon after." Naruto had told this story so many times he was starting to wonder which truth was the real one. He watched as Cindy raised her eyebrow and tilted her head, the universal sign for him to continue._

" _His name was Ben Reilly, and he was a hero to me. He owned a Ramen shop a few blocks down, I loved him for everything he did for me, he's the reason I got into ESU after all. It was… a shame that he was taken from us." Naruto refrained from crushing the glass in his hand. He could still remember when his world had come crashing down when his arrogance had caused the man he loved to die._

" _If you don't mind me asking…" Cindy moved her hand to entrap his, looking into his eyes with her cool brown ones. "How did he die? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Naruto." the former ninja sighed and half her hand tighter. It reminded him of when Jiraiya died, his actions. He was supposed to a damn superhero, and yet here he was breaking down at a dinner table while his date had to console him._

" _It was just some kid, he said he needed the money and that he had powers, that he would be a star and famous. I thought that I was alone when he tried to rob the stand. I decided I would fight him. That's when Ben had just walked in. It all happened so fast; next thing I know the bullet has already been fired and I have my hands wrapped around this kid's neck. My uncle died that day, and I like to think that I did what was right. I like to tell myself that I didn't kill that delusional fool, that I didn't want to squeeze until his throat was the size of a straw. But I did want to, I wanted him to suffer…"_

" _Did you kill him Naru?" Cindy knew this was a tough territory, but she needed to know. If not for herself then to let him know she didn't judge him for it. She knew what it was like to be alone._

" _He died before I could do anything. When the police arrived and the EMTs checked him out, they concluded that he had died from spider venom. It had been in his system for 3 days Cid, the kid was a walking time bomb. I'm just glad I was able to say goodbye to my uncle before he died."_

" _What was his name?"_

" _Peter Parker."_

* * *

It had been weeks since their first date, and Naruto would be lying if he said he hadn't been enjoying himself. He and Cindy just worked, and the sex helped too. He still remembered how she finessed him up to her penthouse when they were supposed to be studying for their exam in East Asian history. He had forgotten how long it had been, but he was glad he wasn't wearing his suit under his clothes that day. But that was enough about Naruto Uzumaki, a former ninja of Konoha, he was doing his third job, being The Amazing Spider-Man. Had been running up a building, lost in his thoughts. Launching over the roof, he landed on the edge and sighed, gazing over the city.

His suit, while retaining his original design, was now much more than the skin tight cloth it had once been. Taking a page out of Matt's book, he had integrated a Kevlar carbon-fiber into the red part of his suit, providing a decent amount of bullet resistance, while also absorbing most physical attacks. The black parts of his suit were now made of a much stronger spandex fabric, one that was a lot more resilient and flexible.

His mask, his proudest achievement by far, all things considered, was now fully integrated into a dynamic system he liked to call his "Spidey-HUD." He had integrated his earpiece into his mask, simultaneously making sure he had a direct line into police communications and his cell phone. He basically had a mini police scanner on his face at all times. His lenses now showed him a map of the city when required and kept track of his vitals. It was pretty fucking cool if he had to be perfectly honest. Sure, it had taken countless hours, a lot of trial and error with Max at Horizon, and three paychecks worth of compensation, but if he could protect the city and himself better, then why not.

But that was the thing, he was starting to wonder if he even wanted to find a way home anymore. He had friends, a job, responsibilities to this new world, and yet he was still no closer to learning how to create a dimensional portal right out of thin air, and with no chakra, his chances didn't look good.

'Enough moping.' Naruto told himself. The masked hero bent down, priming his muscles for his next move. Blasting off into the air, Naruto began to dive, twisting his body as he fell. Right before hitting the ground, Spider-Man shot out a web line, pulling himself up into the air. It was Halloween today, and he and his ragtag group of misfits were planning on attending ESU's annual Halloween Bash. This would be Naruto's first time as well, considering he had just gotten out of the hospital and was still trying to figure out what Halloween was the year prior.

His classes for the day were done, and he had three hours till the party at 7, why not swing by his girlfriend's house? Opening the window to the bathroom on the top floor, Naruto crawled in before changing clothes. Walking into the hallway, the blond rapped up against Cindy's door, a bright smile on his face. 'She still needs to get me a key, then I won't have to go through the hallway every time.'

"Oh hey Naruto, I wasn't expecting you. We weren't supposed to meet up for a few more hours." the blond shrugged and let himself in.

"Well, I thought you'd like to see me before then." He had always liked Cindy's penthouse, personally, he thought it looked nicer at night, but it was still leagues ahead of his own apartment.

"Oh, well, when you put it that way…" she smiled slyly, pressing her chest against his and slowly started to raise his shirt.

Naruto, remembering that he had his costume on, quickly attempted damage control. "Uh we don't have to Cid, I just came to see you, not get in your pants." he grabbed her hands and pulled her into a kiss, which lasted shorter than he hoped it would.

"Yeah, okay Naru. Well, you caught me at a bad time anyway, I have to go to the bank and deposit a few of my checks. My rent is coming up and it won't be pretty if I don't stay on top of it."

"The bank? I could come with you and…" she pushed past him with a slap on his rear and waved as she closed the door.

"There's food in the fridge, lock up whenever you leave." hearing the door shut made Naruto question what he did to piss in her Cheerios this morning. But then again, he couldn't really blame her for being annoyed, he had been doing this for the past week. After their first time, he had largely been busy with being Spider-Man, his upgraded suit allowing for much easier acquisition of crime. He couldn't even remember the last time they had been intimate, aside from a kiss here and there.

Grabbing some hot dogs from the fridge, Naruto threw them in the microwave before his watch started beeping. "10-80 officers in pursuit."

'Just my luck…' he thought as he pulled his shirt off, revealing his Spider-Man costume. Putting his hot dogs into their proper buns, he walked onto Cindy's balcony and jumped off, using his HUD to keep track of the vehicle.

* * *

"Where the hell is he?" Johnny moaned out, wearing a red bodysuit that had the words _Flame On_ on the back. He didn't have the mask on, his normally blond hair containing red streaks.

"I don't know Johnny, last time I saw him he was at my place and that was 2 hours ago." Cindy was wearing a red and black suit, a red webbed face mask sitting around her neck.

"Well can you at least call him and ask where he is?" Bobby was next in the line of complaints, wearing a black and yellow jumper with a black 'X' going across his chest.

"Drake, chill out, I'll take care of it." Gwen rolled her eyes and dialed her phone to Naruto's number. She was wearing a white, black, and red costume with a hood, her white face mask pulled up to show her mouth. Hearing him pick up, she put Naruto on speaker and announced that was there for all to hear. "Hey, Naruto, where the hell are you?"

"Sorry guys, I'm running late from a Bugle assignment, I'll meet you guys at the party." Cindy raised an eyebrow, considering Naruto hadn't told her he was going into the office today.

"Babe, why do you sound like you're out of breath?" Did she trust him? Absolutely. But he was still a man, and men had needs to be fulfilled. It would also explain why he had been pseudo avoiding doing anything past 1st base with her since the week started.

"Oh, that? I just ran to catch the subway, look I've gotta go, really sorry about missing you guys, I'll talk to you on campus!" His call cut off, and they assumed that it was the fact that he was underground. Collectively grumbling at their seemingly waste of time, the group began the trek towards campus from the Coffee Bean, Cindy and Gwen wondering just what was so important.

* * *

"C'mon Shocker, can't we just do this the nice way?" a blast of vibrations hit the subway tunnel behind him, taking a good chunk of wall out of it. Why was he stuck in a subway tunnel fighting a guy with vibration gauntlets instead of being on campus partying with his hot girlfriend? Oh yeah, because he was gifted the powers of a spider… so this was his thing now. After stopping the police chase, Spider-Man had stopped to enjoy one of his hot dogs in peace before seeing a man in some kind of armor blast into the air with what looked like vibrations. That subsequent chase and introduction led to him and the self-proclaimed "Shocker" to take their fight to the subway tunnels.

"Just leave me alone and I won't have to hurt you!" the man seemed panicked and frantic, almost as if he didn't want to fight. The echo in his voice still managed to make his threat intimidating enough. He checked the time in his hud and sighed. It was almost 7, and he had yet to finish off the tech-powered supervillain he was getting cozy within a subway tunnel.

"Sorry Shocker I'll have to cut our time short." Now would be as good as ever to try out his new web-shooters. After upgrading everything else, the blond felt his originals needed an overhaul, which led to Max introducing him to smartwatch technology. His old, clunky silver shooters were replaced with a black and red watch on his left wrist and a black Fitbit like wristband on his right. With the press of a button and a little bit of nanotech, he had two functional web-shooters at his beck and call whenever he needed them.

The new compact and superior tech led to something new as well, web types. Putting his wrists together Naruto's lenses narrowed as he blasted what he liked to call 'Impact Webbing' at Shocker. When combining both of his web-shooters at the same time he was able to shoot an extremely fast and durable web bullet that could throw anyone 10 feet. Shocker was his first live test dummy, and he was happy with the results.

"Well, the cops will have to deal with you, see you later Shocker." Making his way to the boarding station, Naruto quickly dialed the number of his police contact.

"Lieutenant Jones speaking?"

"Hey Jess how's it going, you doing well? Are you sick, you sound a little stuffy?" Naruto was now swinging frantically towards campus, hoping he wasn't too late.

"Ugh it's you again, how many times do I have to tell you to not call me unless it's an emergency. I don't need any of the force to suspect that I'm working with you." in the recent weeks, Naruto had started to decide that he needed a source inside the department if he was going to make a difference in the crime wave. That's when he decided to propose his idea to Lieutenant Jessica Jones, which she begrudgingly agreed to. She used to be a private investigator, but she had matured and decided to make use of her skills in a more impactful way and became an official detective. She was promoted six months ago and almost everyone on the force knew that she was the reason the department wasn't falling apart.

"Ah c'mon Jess, I thought we had something." he could almost feel the older woman roll her eyes.

"Just what do you want, webhead?"

"Got into a fight with a new baddie, he calls himself the Shocker. He's webbed up in the subway off of 8th and 10th. Alright, gotta go!" hanging up on Jessica, Naruto landed on top of the dorms, watching as college students ran around in crazy costumes, getting drunk and having fun.

Jumping to a rooftop closer to the main courtyard, Naruto started to look for a quiet spot to land while he walked down the wall. "Okay, all I need to do is call them and apologize to Cid and we're in the clear." pulling out his phone, he decided to dial Gwen.

"Hey, where are you, the party just started?"

"Don't worry, I'm here." Naruto jumped down to the ground and started walking out of the alleyway to check around before running into a familiar set of blond hair.

"Naruto?" Gwen asked quizzically, looking at what appeared to be Spider-Man on a cell phone. Pulling off his mask Naruto threw his arms out and improvised.

"Surprise! Like my costume?" Gwen raised an eyebrow but decided against interrogating him. He was here and that was all that mattered. Walking over to the rest of the group Bobby was the first to comment on his choice of attire.

"God damn man, why didn't you tell us you were bringing out the big guns, dressing up as Spider-Man. Where'd you even get that?"

Naruto felt pressured as everyone was looking for an answer, "I got it off of Amazon, pretty cool copy, right?" great, just great. 'Kiss my secret identity goodbye…' Naruto groaned internally, knowing that his day couldn't get any worse.

"My my my, tiger, you sure do fill out that costume…" Ugh, he needed to stop jinxing things.

 **Elsewhere At the Party**

"Woah guys, really liking the costumes, how'd you get your bodies to glow like that?" the young man was shoved aside as a group of men in suits pushed through the crowd.

"{Find the doctor, we'll acquire the machine}." the men began to speak in Japanese, though there were various accents and small mixes of Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean. They were given orders, and they would follow them to the letter, even if it meant death.

"{Long live the Moon Princess…}"

 **AN: Hell of a chapter. Yes, Peter Parker was the reason why Naruto became a hero. Not much to say this chapter, hopefully, since I've 100% Spider-Man PS4 I'll have some more time to work on this. Also, is anyone interested in a Spider-Man story set in Insomniac's universe? It'll be a Peter Parker story and will take place either before or after the game, just give me your thoughts. As always, read, review, and have a great day!**


	6. Balance is Key

**Disclaimer in the first 3 chapters.**

 **Woof, that took a while. Didn't mean for a month-long wait but I just couldn't force this one out. Hopefully, you guys enjoy the ride. And shoutout to everyone who reviewed and followed! Spider-Man stories don't get enough love. Enjoy!**

The party was going about as well as he thought it would go, an awkward silence had prevailed since the new addition to their group, Mary Jane, who was wearing a very distracting Dracula costume.

"I didn't know you were that muscular Naruto, where have you been hiding those abs?" the blond ninja struggled to stay calm as Mary Jane fawned over his suit. At the moment, all six of them were sitting at the school cafe, people watching their fellow students party into the night. The secret vigilante was in between a rock and a hard place, with Mary Jane on his left, Cindy on his right, and Gwen sitting right behind him.

'I can go toe to toe with super-powered bad guys and dodge bullets, but these girls are going to be the death of me.' Naruto could almost feel the glare Cindy was giving MJ, and he could see the small smirk that was stuck on the redhead's face as she ran her fingers down the lines in his costume. Deciding to consult the only neutral party in this situation, the unmasked hero turned to Gwen and did his best to smile.

"Hey Gwen, what costume are you wearing?" Gwen blushed and looked to the side, not expecting such a question.

"I made it myself, do you like it?" Naruto gave his trademark smile.

"I love it. Very nice, 'Spider-Woman'." the hero's head snapped to the young man who had walked past their little group.

'Spider-sense, of all times?' with his guard now up, Naruto did his best to resist jumping to the rooftops. Looking back to the guy who had walked by, he noticed him bend over into a trash can and start puking. Quickly getting up, he ignored the cries of his friends and walked over to help the kid.

"Hey man, you alright?" he barely looked over 18, had probably started drinking and tried to show off. The young man grabbed his arm and stammered out a 'Thank you' before his grip tightened considerably. 'What the hell?' Naruto thought before the boy looked at him with glowing black and white eyes.

"Your time has come Chosen One, you are the key!" his voice was distorted as he stared into Naruto's eyes, his own face slowly becoming a black and white color as if he had been covered with the photonegative filter on someone's phone. Acting quickly, Naruto shot a small web to the boy's foot before yanking it, tripping him up and knocking him out in as he hit the ground.

"Don't worry guys, he just passed out! I'll go find a place for him to stay!" the blond shouted back to his friends before fireman carrying the boy to the nearest dark corner. "Alright, bozo, who the hell sent you?" Naruto opened the boy's right eye with his fingers and sighed to see that any former glow was gone, replaced with a normal brown. His face had gone back to normal as well.

"Damnit!" Naruto cursed, punching the stone wall in front of him. Pulling his mask on, the now fully costumed hero webbed the boy to the wall and jumped to the roofs. "Now where the hell did this guy come from?" as soon as the words left his mouth, he heard a faint scream coming from the building he was on top of. Finding a skylight, the spider-themed hero did his best to track down where the sound had come from.

'Using my new mask, I should be able to figure out exactly where…' the thought died in his head as he spied a commotion down the hall, watching as a man with pitch-black skin and white glowing eyes and hair walk up and grab the collar of one of a man in a lab coat.

"Where are the files, old man?" Mr. Negative' growled out, energy pulsating from his free hand.

"If I give you those files, I endanger the lives of every person in this city, I can't do that." Mr. Negative sneered at the elderly man, dropping him where he stood.

"Fine, we'll do this ourselves…" the photonegative man had turned to the 5 men behind him, who were armed and equipped with military-grade assault rifles and body armor. They wore black and white suits, contrasting their head honcho's white and black look. Just as quickly, their leader turned and grabbed the side of the researcher's face.

"You should've just given me the files."

Naruto couldn't help but let his mouth gape as he watched the man he had dubbed "Mr. Negative" infect the older man with his negative energy. What files could they want? ESU had been working for the benefit of mankind for decades, as far as he knew there was nothing of value. He did his best to hide his unease as the man's face began to glow a black and white similar to Mr. Negative, "So that's what happened to that kid I met."

"Now, tell me where the files are." Mr. Negative asked once again, barely hiding the frustration in his voice.

"All the files pertaining to our scientific partnership with Oscorp are under lock and key in the office of Dr. Curtis Connors. He's on the top floor of this building and the safe is on the floor underneath the desk in his office." Mr. Negative straightened his glowing white tie and fixed his hair.

"Now was that so hard? Let's go get those files, and oh, I almost forgot. Doctor, for your cooperation I'll let you dispose of yourself quickly." Naruto's lenses widened as he watched one of the masks hand the doctor a handgun, the hypnotized man turning the safety off before putting it up to his temple.

"NO!" Spider-Man shouted as he shot two web lines on both sides of the hall, using them as a slingshot to send him flying at the man who was about to kill himself. He had almost been able to stop him if not for the energy powered fist that slammed into his chest when only feet away.

"Looks like the Spider-Man decided to join us, you three take care of him, the rest of you with me." Negative couldn't hide the grin on his face as he left the building in search of his prize, watching as his Demons surrounded the web-slinger. Naruto acted quickly, webbing two of the guns pointed his way and pulled, watching the firearms fall from their hands. Spider-Man reached out to stop the doctor, only to be surprised when the possessed man aimed the gun at him. Even his spider-sense couldn't help him avoid the black and white bullet that went through his left shoulder.

"{Looks like the doctor has this handled, let's go!}" the Demons hustled towards the exit, the once good doctor's sights on the wounded hero. Looking down the barrel of the gun pointed at his head, Naruto did his best to try to reason with the man. He knew what it was like to be a prisoner in your own body, the man just had to fight it.

"C'mon Doctor Keyes, you can fight this, don't be afraid…" Naruto pulled his mask off, doing anything he could to connect to the man.

"Uzumaki…" the man strained to speak, doing his best to train the gun away from the blond man. "Y-you have to stop them, d-don't let them get to t-the files…" the elder man finally managed to force the gun away from Naruto, instead pressing it to his own temple. "I w-won't allow that madman to hurt anyone else…" Within seconds, Naruto watched the life leave from the man's eyes as Keyes pulled the trigger. Naruto cursed once more, louder and infuriated with himself. Hadn't he seen enough death for one life?

Throwing his mask back on, Spider-Man jumped out the nearby window to the roof, nursing his bleeding shoulder. Dr. Connors's lab and subsequent office were on the other side of campus, and he had no doubt that Negative would be there. But still, he had friends who he had been away from for nearly an hour, and as much as they put up with his antics, there was only so much they could take. Struggling to make his decision, Naruto slid his mask off and jumped down to a nearby wall. Checking to see if it was a clean shot, he unrolled some gauze from his belt and wrapped his shoulder under the costume. It wasn't perfect, but hopefully, it'd be enough so if anyone saw him they wouldn't notice. Pulling his phone from his belt, Naruto quickly texted Cindy for their location.

"We're over by the science hall, figured you were making sure the kid was okay." Naruto read the text aloud, almost comically so, thinking about how convenient it was that he had to go in the same direction as the madman on the loose. Making his way on foot, he was surprised to see Dr. Connors standing outside alongside his friends. 'At least he won't be in the line of fire when this whole mess hits.' Faking a smile, blond former ninja waved as he approached.

"Doc what're you doing out here? I figured you'd be as far away from campus as possible tonight." the red and black-clad hero ignored the stink eye Cindy had pointed his way, choosing to focus on the fastest way he could ditch his friends and go beat up a random supervillain.

'And to think, the worst thing I used to worry about was being able to leave the village on a C-rank mission…'

"Well it's funny you should ask Naruto, I was actually just leaving when I ran into everyone waiting by the Creepy Carousel. I had asked about you and Ms. Moon told me about your predicament with the young boy you helped out. Is he alright?" Naruto thought back to the young boy he webbed to the wall, which should probably be dissolved by now, and his chilling words.

"Yeah I took care of him, um, actually, I need to get going myself." Naruto knew that his girlfriend had the strongest look of betrayal and anger he had ever seen, but once again, he ignored her eyes. He turned with a sheepish smile, eyes closed and mind not focused. "I'm sorry, J.J has me working a big story tomorrow morning and I need to be in Harlem early morning." it was a half-truth, like most of what he said. If J.J ever wanted something from him, which was rare, it usually involved him translating something or a certain picture he had taken that had made its way to the front page. Jameson had asked him to go down to Harlem and ask the Asian part of the bureau about an apparent hero running around, as the black community was seemingly tight-lipped on the issue. "Power Man" was his name from the rumors, which just showed him that some of these hero names were being lazily made.

"Anyway, I was actually going to ask you if I could run into the lab real quick Doc, I was thinking it might help me with my story?" the veteran smiled and dug into his pockets for the spare key he had.

"I expect this back on Monday, Uzumaki."

"You know I've never let you down Dr. Connors." turning to finally face his friends, the vigilante almost cringed at the amount of hurt that was seemingly spread throughout the young faces. Everyone had an air of annoyance at his actions, which was granted, but MJ was different, offering him a warm smile.

"Guys, I know what you're thinking and I understand, but Naru is just as independent as any of us. We can't be mad at him for having a life outside of us." Mary Jane had turned to speak to everyone, doing her best to delay a fallout between any of them. Watching his friend's faces, understanding and acceptance began to take hold. All except for one.

"I'm going with you." All eyes turned to Cindy, whose crossed arms and glare showed how final it was.

"Cid. you don't have to go, besides, you're the life of the party!" Naruto could feel the sweat roll down the side of his face, his girlfriend's dark eyes burning through his skull.

"This isn't up for argument, either you stay or you take me home, Naruto." The venom in her voice made him wince, oh he wasn't in the doghouse anymore, he was six feet under it in an unmarked grave. Resigning to his fate, the blond hero began to do whatever he could to get them away from the building.

"Fine. Cid, just stay with the group and I'll meet you guys after I go into the lab." Turning around, he saw the small flash of light on the highest floor of the building and cursed. The dull buzzing in his ears from his spider-sense was enough to ignore the aggravated groan that came from Cindy's mouth and the footsteps that started to follow him.

Nearly breaking down the door to the building, the once again masked hero wasn't surprised to see security guards for the hall lying in the ground. He quickly checked their vitals, relieved to find faint, but steady heartbeats. Connors' lab and office were on the top floor, which meant he would have to go up through the elevator. 'But that also means Mr. Negative up there only has one way down.' Naruto smiled under his mask before calling the elevator. He would end this here and now before it got out of hand. 'And hopefully, save my relationship.'

"Naruto…" his lenses widened as he turned to face his girlfriend, the one who he had specifically told not to follow him. "What's going on? Why are all the guards on the ground? We need to call the police, we need to…" the masked man walked out and put his hand over her mouth and did his best to hide his anger.

"Shut up. Now. I told you to stay outside and you still didn't listen. I can't protect you if you won't even heed my warnings." Spider-Man did his best to hide the anger he was feeling but his expressive eyes said enough.

"Naruto what the hell are you talking about, and why are you wearing that mask, you're not some stupid superhero you're…" the exacerbated woman was stopped in her tracks as a loud screeching sound erupted through the building, followed by a loud and audible crash. The costumed couple looked at the elevator shaft, Naruto annoyingly seeing the smoke that had started to creep through the door.

'Guess he knows I'm here.' taking no time to argue, the vigilante grabbed his girlfriend's hand and webbed it to the nearby guardrail of the stairs they were on. "You're staying here. No ifs, ands, or buts." ignoring her shock, he walked to the elevator doors and pulled them open. Seeing a now broken elevator car and empty shaft, Naruto gave one last look at his girlfriend before webbing his way up.

The building was only a few stories high, so it didn't take long for him to get up to get to the top floor. What he wasn't expecting was a relatively quiet entrance. "Well, compared to 10 armed guys in my face, this is a welcome change of pace." walking towards the lab, Spider-Man made out three men standing guard in front while Negative rummaged around in Connors' office. 'This isn't going to go the easy way, might as well hit them fast and hard.' Spider-Man webbed the possessed men's pistols and used their surprise to smack them across the face with the weapons. He used a web-strike to get close, webbing both men to the floor. However, just as the web-slinger was about to turn to Connors office, the door flew off its hinges, a pissed off black and white face looking back at him.

"Seems that my men can't do their jobs right, seeing as you're still alive." Negative raised his fist and his five Demons collapsed, their bodies seizing on the ground. Naruto couldn't help but stare in awe as black and white energy poured from the men into himself. "If you need something done right, you do it yourself."

Spider-Man made the first move, using his web-shooters to hopefully immobilize the supervillain. Mr. Negative had other plans, summoning a whip-like sword of pure energy to fight the masked hero. "You just have all sorts of tricks, don't you." Spider-Man's lenses narrowed, before rushing the sword-wielding man, trading blow after blow.

"Ugh, why do you insist on getting involved. This doesn't concern you." Naruto winced as the man's butterfly kick and subsequent sword swipe tore through the armor on his chest. It wasn't deep enough to draw blood, but it was enough for him to need to replace it. Feinting a punch, Naruto grappled onto the man, using his legs to throw Negative on the ground.

"This is my city, and you aren't welcome." just before the hero knocked out Mr. Negative, Naruto noticed Cindy standing outside the laboratory. "No…" Mr. Negative took his chance, channeling power through his feet and kicking Spider-Man into the adjacent window.

"Naruto!" Cindy shouted, gaining Mr. Negative's attention.

"Did I just hear that right? Is it truly you?" the man's warped voice unnerved Naruto to no end, the blond doing his best to get back to his feet. Suddenly, Negative kicked him over to lay on his back before a sharp pain shot through his lower abdomen. Looking up at the man whose sword was now impeded into his left side, he could do nothing but glare as an almost giddy smile spread across the man's face as his mask was removed. "Well I'll be damned, it is you. Heh, to think that out of everyone, YOU would be Spider-Man." Negative leaned down to Naruto's ear, barely holding back his excitement. "{Kaguya awaits.}"

Naruto's eyes widened before pure, unadulterated rage ran through him. Jumping up from the ground and ignoring the sword, the blond grabbed Negative and slammed him through the window straight into the now raining night, webbing the suited man and tossing him on the roof. Straddling Negative, teeth bared with his hand formed into a claw, Naruto screamed.

"WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?"

"The Moon Princess awaits your return Uzumaki, look at you, already going back to your old ways." Naruto tilted his head before looking at what he was doing. The unmasked hero jumped off of the older man and found a puddle to see his reflection, red eyes and slit pupils greeting him, with faint traces of whiskers.

Mr. Negative laughed before getting up, arrogantly dusting himself off and turning to face the edge of the building. "Well kid, it's been fun, about time I take my leave." the photonegative man simply jumped off the building, a gust of wind leaving no trace.

"Naruto, baby, are you up here?" Cindy had managed to find a way to the roof but froze at seeing her boyfriend sobbing on the ground. She said nothing, ignoring the rainfall and the blood that might soak her clothes, only concerned about comforting the blond. Sitting down, she held him close and prayed. It had been a long night, too long. Too many sacrifices, too much hurt. Cindy Moon just wondered how long it would take until it destroyed all she had left.

 **Wow, that took forever. I really am sorry about this month-long wait but I hope you guys enjoy what I put out. Not my best chapter but definitely my longest. 8 whole pages. Anyway, I'm going to be taking a small break from writing Brand New Day, mostly because I'm all Spider-Manned out. The next chapter will probably come out around the 23rd or a little after, which Spider-man PS4's first DLC. It doesn't mean I won't be updating, as I have a Green Lantern story in mind I'd like to start. If anyone is interested and has a preference on whether it should be a crossover or just a normal fanfic. Either way, let me know. And as always, read, review and have a lovely day.**


	7. Revelations

**AN: Damn. It's been a while. Thank each and every one of you who have reviewed, followed or favorited, It means everything to me and keeps me going. Alright, I'll keep this short, The Heist DLC was okay, BO4 is pretty great, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is such a masterpiece I want to make a fic about it. On with the show!**

"So… are we going to talk about what happened?" Spider-Man did his best to ignore his girlfriend while he swung the two of them home. Having recovered enough to be able to stand, Naruto allowed Cindy to go make a statement to the police as the only witness, one who had shown up minutes after Mr. Negative left.

"No. I'm taking you home."

"Oh, okay then… " Cindy tried not to show her disappointment in his answer, instead, resigning to hold onto his back tighter. He landed on her balcony and motioned for her to get off, stoic as the black-haired beauty shivered in the cold weather.

"Naruto I want to talk to you, we can't just go on like this never…" he was already gone because of course, he would be. Cindy huffed in annoyance, holding back tears she watched the person she thought she knew everything about swing away into the night. Taking a shuddered breath, the Korean woman walked into her apartment, ready for her shitty night to be over.

* * *

"I haven't talked to him since Halloween Gwen…" Cindy sat in the dining hall and poked her burger. It had been a few weeks since Cindy had even talked to Naruto, outside of the pleasantries of everyday conversation around the group. At school, there was nothing wrong with him. The blond had his normal smile on his face, his big, bright blue eyes shining like they did every day. But the former ninja's female friends could tell that there was something wrong. The smile was a mask, hiding the fact that there was no longer any fire in his eyes. Blond stubble had started to appear on his face, and anybody could see the bags that lingered under his eyes.

"Well, I don't know what to say, Cid, maybe he just needs time?" Cindy gave Gwen a look that made the blonde chemistry student retreat into her chair.

"You don't have to sugar coat it Gwen, anything we had is more than likely over, I just want to know that he's okay. It's just… on Halloween he…" the words died in Cindy's mouth as Naruto walked past their table to occupy an empty one. Just watching him filled the older woman's chest with dread, not being helped by the redhead who had already sauntered over to his side. "It was nice talking to you Gwen, I'll text you later." picking up her trash, the Korean journalism major excused herself as fast as she could.

* * *

"Did you manage to get the information about the Demons I sent you?"

"I'm en route now, thanks, Gwen."

"It's no problem Naruto, but you can't keep avoiding me and Cindy as you have been. Johnny and Bobby might not have noticed but you know we sure as hell have. She was telling me about Halloween, which you still haven't explained by the way. I don't know if I can keep lying to her."

"I've told you this a thousand times these past weeks, the farther you girls are the better." Naruto could almost see Gwen's sarcastic smirk as he said that.

"Is that why you're using me as an informant for everything the NYPD has on Mr. Negative and the Demons?" the web-slinger frowned, shooting another web line to continue his movement through the night sky.

"Trust me, Gwen, if your dad wasn't the Commissioner, you'd be as far away from this as possible."

"Whatever you say Spider-Boy, I'll keep saying it, you need me as much as I need you. So stop being moody." rolling his eyes, the hero's lenses narrowed as he passed a nearby jewelry store. He had been doing the same routine since his fight with Negative, find a base of operations, beat everyone up, and go to the next one. It was practically therapeutic since his initial run-in with Negative and his Demons, but the downside was that it was costly on his costume and armor. He had replaced his lenses at least six times last week, and his armor four times. Back to the matter at hand, however, Spider-Man watched as a black and white figure on top of the store began to cut a hole in the glass skylight.

"I'm gonna have to call you back Gwen." hanging up with a tap on his ear, Spider-Man decided to introduce himself. "Look I know that the economy is kicking everyone's ass right now, but you don't have to steal, what happened to the American Dream?" Naruto watched the would-be thief jumped in surprise at the unexpected voice, slowly turning her head up to face him.

"So you're the Spider-Man everyone's been talking about? You almost put me out of a job, mister, almost no one would hire me because they're all scared of you." Naruto couldn't help but take in the woman's form. It was clearly athletic, barely restrained and hidden by the black catsuit she was wearing. White plumes of fur went down the back of her calves, a collar of fur around her neck. The zipper to the suit was pulled down, just enough to reveal her cleavage, something that had taken his eyes for a bit too long. More fur was on her forearm, distracting from the armored white gauntlets she was wearing. To top it all off, a black domino mask hid her identity, only revealing cyan blue eyes that were framed by her stark white hair. The cat burglar (quite a literal one if the cat on her silver belt buckle was anything to go by) let a sly smile grace her face as Spider-Man stared at her.

"Do you like what you see honey?"

"You'd like it if I did wouldn't you?" Spider-Man jumped down from his perched position and narrowed his lenses. "If all the big wigs in the criminal underworld are scared that must mean I'm doing my job right."

"Ah ah ah, not all of them Spider, otherwise I would be enjoying a nice bath and watching my shows right now."

"And I imagine that you won't just give up your employer willingly?" the cat cooed at him and ran a finger down her chest.

"All information has a price, how about a trade? My employer for a little peek under that mask? What do you say?"

Spider-Man threw out his hand and webbed the white-haired woman's hand to the skylight. "I'd rather not, how about this deal, you tell me who you're working for and I won't have to get rough."

"Aw darling," the woman extended her hidden claws and slashed away his webs, "Momma was made for rough."

Dodging a few quick swipes, Spider-Man began to throw punches, ones that were easily blocked or evaded. 'Well she's faster than the average cat.' going in for a quick leg sweep, the vigilante couldn't contain his surprise when the black-clad woman jumped over the move and went to pounce on top of him. The wallcrawler dropped to his back and used his legs to redirect her into the adjacent wall behind him.

"Ooh, it looks like the spider can put up a fight." Spider-Man did a kip-up and recovered, lenses narrowing at the thief.

"And it looks like the cat can take a hit."

"You work at this game long enough you learn a few tricks. But don't be afraid, I wouldn't want to hurt my little Spidey-Man."

"Really, and why's that?"

"Cats don't eat spiders," his spider-sense went off immediately, but not quick enough to avoid the blinding flash of light that hit him. "We just bat 'em around!" her high heel connected to his chest, pushing the two through the skylight and into the large jewelry store. Spider-Man reacted quickly, shooting two web lines and stopping himself from hitting the ground.

'The ground is a big no-no, one misstep and I'll have the police on my ass.' Naruto thought to himself before attaching to the ceiling. For a seemingly small storefront, the place was quite wide and spacious.

"I'm not done with you yet Spider!" Spider-Man moved his head to the left, narrowly avoiding the clawed hand that was now stuck in the ceiling where his head had been.

"As much as I like this song and dance, I think you've outstayed your welcome." Spider-Man took his chance and threw a quick, but strong, gut punch, making his white-haired assailant fall to the ground. His lenses widened as he watched her go limp while she fell.

"Damnit!"

Dropping from the ceiling, the superhero shot a web line at the falling criminal, pulling himself closer. Managing to grab hold, Naruto prayed he would be able to safely land. Flipping over feet first, the masked blond landed smoothly, ignoring the silent alarm that had just gone off, instead choosing to focus on the unconscious woman in his arms

"Hey, cat lady, you okay?" no response, exactly what he wasn't hoping for.

'Shit.' Naruto thought in annoyance before he rolled the bottom of his mask up. Taking hold of her nose with his left hand, the blond began to give CPR to the would-be cat burglar. Moving his hands to her chest, Spider-Man pressed a few times, to no avail.

"Come on, I didn't hit you that hard." the hero went back up to try again but was caught off guard when said woman immediately took hold of his face, smashing his lips against hers and shoving her tongue down his throat. Breaking the kiss, she quickly whispered into his ear.

"Oh don't worry baby, I bet you can hit a lot harder. I'll see you later darling." too fast for his spider-sense to register, she popped another flashbang.

"God damn it, note to self, polarize lenses." getting off the ground, Spider-Man was unsurprisingly greeted with an empty store. "And now she's gone too, at least I stopped whatever she was here for." Spider-Man walked out of the front doors, greeting the cops that were stationed outside. Checking the time, Naruto decided to continue with his mission, which was tearing down as many Demon bases he could before the night was over.

* * *

"Naruto, it's me, I just wanted to call again and check in on you. It's been hours since you hung up, please call me back." Gwen sighed and placed her head up against her dorm window. Why did she agree on being dragged into this? Oh yeah, because she thought it'd be fun and exciting. And it was, at least until the evening, when she'd wait hours wondering if Naruto would make it back alive or not. She opened her eyes and looked at her reflection. "Do I need a haircut?" she asked herself, fiddling with strands of her hair, trying imaginary styles. The blonde was taken out of her thoughts by a knocking on her window. Doing her best to see, Gwen cursed and quickly went to open her window. Why you may ask? Well, a certain 20-year old superhero had decided to make a visit to her dorm of all places.

"What're you doing here Naruto?" she received no answer, only a blank stare as he continued to sit on her fire escape. "Uzumaki, you okay?" her fellow blond grunted in return, instead, slipping through the window feet first, stumbling onto her floor, somehow managing to stand. It was in the light that Gwen finally noticed how disheveled Naruto looked. There were rips and tears all over his suit, portions of the black cloth wet with blood. His mask was about the only thing that made it with a few scuffs here and there.

She watched as he began to take a step to sit on her bed, only to collapse on the floor. "Naruto…" Gwen rushed to his side and propped him against the bed frame. Removing his mask, Gwen could barely hold back the gasp that left her mouth. He was bruised and beaten, a swollen eye here, a busted lip there, it looked like he had gone 10 rounds with King Kong until TKO.

"I'm sorry, I should've thought about coming here, where are the other girls."

"They went to a party, they'll stay there for a while." Gwen wiped a tear from her face and sighed. "I can't do this Naruto."

"What why?" Gwen glared and wiped at her eyes.

"I'm not going to sit here and let you get yourself killed. I mean look at us, we're supposed to be college kids, I shouldn't be having to nurse my best friend back to health at midnight because he's too busy being a vigilante!" she let out a hampered breath, doing her best to reign in her emotions. "I don't even know how you know about these 'Demons' Naruto. You haven't told me anything since I found out you were Spider-Man. Not how you got your powers, why you're hunting them down, or even how Cindy knows. I need answers."

Naruto nodded his head, taking a breath before exhaling. It was almost comical how both Gwen and Cindy found out on the same night. He should've known that she would follow up his abrupt leave, then again, he wasn't really thinking straight. Seeing your friend crawl through his bedroom window and take off his mask would connect the dots for anyone.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything, Gwen. If you're going to help me, you need to trust me, as I trust you. I just need you to promise me that you won't freak out." the former ninja got a grim nod in return.

"Alright then, well I should probably start with the basics… I'm not from this world."

* * *

They had talked for hours now, Naruto recalling his life as a ninja up to the point they had met, constantly stopping to make sure Gwen wasn't confused. He watched as she gradually relaxed, understanding more and more about her new "partner".

"So you've told me about how you got your powers, but not about what made you want to do," she comically gestured to his costume, "this?" Naruto shifted in his spot on the floor, knowing she would ask eventually.

"Do you remember my Uncle Ben? I'm sure you've heard the story from Cindy." she nodded. "Well the way I told it isn't the way it happened, it was different…"

* * *

" _Peter we've been over this, I'm not going to become some reality TV star." a younger Naruto responded to his lab partner. A few days ago he had been bitten by that stupid spider at the demonstration. He had very reasonably freaked out and decided to confide with his only real friend, Peter Parker. The kid was an ESU freshman, transferring at the same time Naruto had. Apparently, he was so smart he was able to go to college at the ripe old age of 16. They were both new, but no one really knew or talked to Peter like people seemed to gravitate toward Naruto._

" _But think about it, we could be rich! We could pay for school, get the girls, I could finally help my parents out with bills, maybe even…"_

" _Peter." the younger boy stopped and saw his friend's seriousness. "Power isn't a joke, trust me, abilities like mine shouldn't be toyed with." The older man ran a hand through his long hair and beard. "My Uncle Ben fought in World War II, and he used to say that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. Now even though he may have been talking about world superpowers, it still applies." Naruto gave his friend one last look before leaving._

" _Think on it for a bit Pete."_

 ** _One Month Later: May_**

 _Peter looked at the news in disgust. There were constant reports of some kind of vigilante running around, one who was using webs to swing from building to building like Tarzan, a "Spider-Man" if you would._

" _I was the one who helped him with that formula! It was me, I'm the real Spider-Man!" Peter yelled at the screen, no concern for his suitemates in the other room. It had been this way since Naruto and himself had that "great power" conversation. "Great power, it's all a lie. He could help me, help us! But instead, he wastes it on fighting minuscule crime. We could go big, but no."_

 _Peter quickly pulled out a lockbox from under his bed, opening it to reveal a simple 9mm pistol. The boy pocketed the weapon before rushing out of his dorm. "I'll change it, I'll get powers just like him, I'll be the real hero."_

 _Breaking into the genetics lab in the Science Hall, Peter rummaged around, looking for the super spiders. "Where are they?!" he yelled, throwing out his arms and knocking down a display case behind him. "What?" the young boy turned and was delighted to see a large spider, a tarantula, in fact, crawling on top of the now broken case. "Come to me, come and give me the power!" thrusting his hand out the spider did as it was told, crawling up the boy's arm up to his neck, before sinking its fangs deep into his veins. 'I feel it, I'm already changing.' Peter thought to himself, making his way to his next destination, Chinatown._

 ** _Elsewhere_**

" _I'm telling you, Uncle Ben, I can't just sit around and do nothing! You know that better than anyone." Ben Reilly looked upon his "nephew" in skepticism. Another night of fighting, another night of Naruto putting himself in harm's way._

" _Listen to yourself Naruto, you're a grown man. Running around in that hoodie like you're some kind of superhero. You don't have to dance with death anymore. You can live a normal life, I know I don't have much time left but…"_

" _It doesn't matter, old man, I'm going to make my own way. I told you, that spider god said I was destined for something, maybe I'm here for a reason. I need to go, I'm sorry, Uncle Ben." in seconds Naruto was gone, leaving his uncle alone in their home._

' _That boy, reminds me so much of myself.' the Army veteran sighed and went to take a seat in his favorite chair. Before he could finally sit down, however, three loud knocks on the door sounded out._

" _Hello?" silence prevailed. The man narrowed his eyes, and walked over to the fireplace, taking the 1911 off the mantle above. "Hello, who is it?" still nothing. The Japanese man pointed his pistol at the door, ready and willing to do what was necessary, as he had done so many times before._

" _I'm Naruto's friend, is this where he lives?"_

" _Yes, why?"_

" _He said he had something I had to pick up? Don't worry I can probably find it in a few minutes. My name's Peter, by the way."_

 ** _With Naruto Soon After_**

' _I'm such a fool. Stupid, stupid, stupid.' the blond did his best to swing back home, trying to go as fast as he could. 'Of course when I leave something bad happens. Kami, please let him be okay.' barely 10 minutes after he had left, his uncle had called. What he thought would be a lecture turned into a ransom over the phone. Someone had his uncle hostage, and that someone knew he was the vigilante. Landing in front of the ramen shop, Naruto jumped over the counter and ran to the back, kicking down the door to their living room, only to dodge a bullet that was fired in his direction._

" _Alright, you son of a bitch, what do you… Peter?" to the former ninja's horror, standing with the barrel pressed against his uncle's head, was Peter Parker. "Peter what are you doing here?"_

" _I'm here to show you who's the better Spider-Man Naruto, I'm going to make everything right again." the former ninja did his best to keep his hands visible, but couldn't help but be unnerved by the crazed look in Peter's eyes. "I tried to save a woman before I came here, I killed the two men who were assaulting her. I told her I was Spider-Man, that I was a famous hero, she only ran away from me. So I killed her too." Peter pointed the gun in his direction. "You've taken it all away from me Naruto, I can see clearly now. I can see it all. The spider, it showed me, it showed me that I'm Spider-Man and that you stole that from me!" Peter gestured to his neck, letting Naruto see the large bite mark on his neck._

' _Dear god… you've gone insane Peter…'_

" _It doesn't have to end this way Parker, just let him go, then I'll give you my powers and you can be Spider-Man." Slowly, Peter complied, letting go of Ben and his hold on him._

" _The spider showed me something else too…" Naruto's spider-sense blared. "That you would lie to me!" Peter pulled the trigger, hoping for it to go through Naruto's chest. Instead, it went through another's._

" _UNCLE BEN!" Naruto pounced on top of Peter, pure rage flowing through him. He wrapped his hands around his neck and began to squeeze. It took only seconds until the teen went limp, the blond letting go of the now dead body. The tired hero looked at Peter, seeing the marks on the boy's neck, as well as the venomous veins and sickly pale skin that was now his face. "What have I done…" running into the bathroom, the bearded blond threw up and looked at his reflection, shocked to see familiar red eyes. However, with a blink, they were gone. Rushing to his uncle's side Naruto let out tears of frustration and anger._

" _I'm sorry Uncle Ben…"_

" _Don't worry Naruto, it was going to happen soon. Quick, get the box under my bed and bring the contents to me." in seconds Naruto returned, an old-school camera in his hands. "This camera means a lot to me, helped me through the war… I want you to have it, son…" Naruto watched as Ben took his last breath, doing his best to hold back more tears, but to no avail._

" _I'm so sorry Uncle Ben, I should've been here. With great power, there must also come, great responsibility. I'll remember that. I love you… dad."_

* * *

"The police arrived and I gave them the version I told Cindy. They said that the venom was spreading so fast they couldn't tell if I had killed him or if he died before. Either way, it didn't matter, I promised myself I'd never get that low again." looking over to Gwen, he saw her wipe her eyes with a tissue, doing her best to stay strong and nod. The blond slowly made his way to his feet and made his way towards the window.

"It's like 3 am, I probably won't be at school tomorrow." Gwen laughed at his attempt at a joke before blowing her nose.

"I don't doubt it… thank you for being honest with me Naruto."

"If we're working together we need to trust each other. I trust you with my life Gwen." his fellow blonde smiled and turned to walk away.

"I trust you with mine as well, Naruto."

 **AN: Wow, that was a doozy. I hope you guys aren't upset or annoyed at what I did with Peter. I wasn't originally planning it to go that way but I'm happy with how it worked out. I want to know if you guys prefer monthly/bi-monthly updates of 3,000 - 4,000-word chapters, or more often but shorter 1,500 to 2,000-word chapters? Just a thought. I should have the first chapter of my Naruto/Green Lantern Crossover out soon. Unless RDR2 decides to stop that. Either way, please read, review, and as always, have a great day.**


	8. Natural Selection

**For thousands of years, I lay dormant, who dares wake me... oh it's just you guys. Hey, everyone, it's SoldierOfTheSea here back and better than ever. I can't believe it's taken so long for this chapter but I swear to God it's worth it! I didn't spend 6 damn months for anything! Ahem, but back to being serious, thank you for everyone who has stuck around. It means a lot. I was hurt, and it took a lot of coping to come back, but here I am, still as sexy as ever. All jokes aside this is the first time I've written a Chapter over a few thousand words and I hope it doesn't show. Sometimes I may be lazier with my writing but this is over 10,000 words so I hope I get some slack. I love all of you, thank you for everything. On with the show...**

" _Have you ever stared death in the face, and had him blink first? Have you had everything you love taken from you? I wish I could tell you I was exaggerating… that it was all some joke… This is my story, this is how Spider-Man died..."_

 **3 Weeks Earlier**

It was once again a normal evening in New York City, the cool November air frosting cars and trees alike, with nearly all but one man holed up in their homes for the night. That very man was one Naruto Uzumaki, aka The Amazing Spider-Man.

"The city may be quiet but that doesn't mean that I get to slack off." the blond did a flip before soaring down towards the city streets, shooting a line at the last moment, swinging barely a few feet above the ground. The hero began to pull himself upward, web zipping and jumping until he threw himself over the tallest buildings in Hell's Kitchen. Settling into his normal swinging rhythm, the masked hero began to think of his current situation. The new year was coming up soon, and he was still nowhere in his quest for home. Maybe if he still had access to his chakra, he could've tried replicating the technique that Kaguya had used to transport him in the first place, but he had no idea if that would even work, not to mention the added factor of what Anansi would do with his tampering of dimensions. He hated thinking that Kaguya's portal hadn't sent him here, that he had truly died and was just reborn in this other world. That was a can of worms the blond didn't have the patience to get into.

'And then there's Mr. Negative and his demons…' the blond thought to himself bitterly. Base after base he had taken down, yet he was still no closer to finding out who or what the demons were doing. Just stockpiles of weapons and armor. 'Not that they needed any more of those.' which brought his thoughts to the roof of the Science Hall. He could still feel the anger that flowed through him, and those two words that pushed him over the edge.

"{Kaguya awaits.}" the former shinobi let the words slip out of his mouth in his native tongue, frustrated at the meaning, or more so, their lack thereof. If what Negative said was true, that meant Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura hadn't been able to defeat her, or, she was in hiding somewhere. Now that puts a smile on his face, imagining the primordial being having to hide from his pink-haired teammate. But that also brought up what had happened after, Kurama being alive. He wasn't blind, and as much as he wanted to ignore it, his eyes couldn't lie.

"It makes no sense, if Kurama was still with me I would've felt him by now. Unless…" Spider-Man stopped his movement and attached to the side of a skyscraper feet first, "Something about Mr. Negative made my body react in a way that reacted with Kurama's chakra." the hero shook his head and looked out over the city, his back now to the wall. "I think I can sleep now, the city doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart at the moment." Spider-Man hopped off the wall, curling into a ball and falling before shooting a web line. After everything that had happened, web-swinging was still his favorite activity, behind eating ramen of course. There was just something so unique and surreal about it. He almost believed he had gotten his chakra back when he was first bitten, and while he wasn't as strong or fast, it was close enough to his Sage Mode abilities. After creating his web-shooters, swinging was an entirely different experience than flying or tree jumping.

Arriving at his apartment, Naruto paused at seeing the lights on. Crawling cautiously, the black and red-clad man peeked into his room. "Well, I'll be damned…" it was Cindy, wearing a simple spaghetti-strap top and black yoga pants. 'Of all the people to show up…" the hero steeled his resolve and knocked on the window, gaining the surprised look from his (ex?)-girlfriend. The Korean woman gestured for him to come in, prompting the spider-themed hero to open the window and land in front of the raven-haired woman. Silence prevailed as the former couple stared at each other, seemingly both at a loss of words.

"Um, Cindy, not that I don't mind your company but what are you doing here?" the older girl blinked out of her trance.

"Oh I'm sorry it's just, I've never had a good look at you in your suit before. You look, great…" The blond pulled off his mask and threw it on his nightstand. "Look Naruto, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for everything. I should've known that you were going through a lot, hell you're Spider-Man, the stress you go through was more than enough for me to have taken a step back. Yet I kept pushing and… I'm sorry." silence was her answer but she barely paid it any mind. "... I love you Naruto, and I know you probably don't feel the same but-" Cindy was cut off immediately as the costumed man assaulted her lips with his own, taking the smaller woman into his arms and squeezing as tight as he could. Her initial shock was quickly replaced with hunger as she cupped his face and pulled it closer. This went on for five minutes or so until the two finally broke apart for air.

"I'm sorry Cid, I couldn't help myself." Naruto chuckled, running his hand up and down her arm.

"Don't even apologize, I was thinking about jumping you the second you came through that window, like I said, your suit doesn't leave much to the imagination." she began to kiss her way up to his ear and whispered. "Now I'm just wondering how I get it off…" the younger blond smiled and immediately took off his gloves and top, barely holding in his excitement as Cindy pried his tights off. Cid looked down and smirked, "I don't know how you survived standing there this long with only underwear on under this thing."

"I don't know how I did it either." his hands quickly removed her top and he allowed her to crawl on top of him.

"Well Mr. Spider-Man, are you ready for me to rock your world?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Ms. Moon"

* * *

The morning came sooner than both of them wanted it to, Naruto being the first to awake. "Mmm for a minute there I thought this was all a dream, Cid." he smiled down at the black, head of hair on his chest, "I'm glad I was proven wrong." the naked blond kissed her forehead and relaxed into her warmth.

"Do we really have to get up today?" Cindy asked from under his arms.

"Sadly. Connors wants me in the lab today, said he was working on something revolutionary." Naruto started to stretch his legs, prepared to swing around and land on the floor, before realizing the two of them had fallen asleep still… attached. "Uh Cid, could you um, move?" the blond blushed as he struggled to find the right words.

The naked woman raised her eyebrows and began to sit up before feeling the pressure that was currently in between her legs. A sly smile appeared on her face, "Sure thing Naru…" she quickly squeezed hard before moving back and forth.

"Aww come on Cindy, I'm gonna be late!"

"One quickie won't kill you!"

"Connors needs me… damn it! I wish I still had my shadow clones…"

 **ESU Science Hall - Dr. Connors' Lab**

"Sorry, I'm late Doc, overslept." Naruto fixed the lab coat he had thrown on, feeling out of place in such a sterile environment. While science fascinated him, it was still very clinical and step by step, something his hyperactive and on the fly thinking still couldn't adjust to completely.

"You're fine, boy, plus, I've just gotten to the good part." gesturing to the small, white mice sitting in the display case. Connors turned around, turning on their smart table."Now, do you remember my previous lectures on cross-species genetics and genetic engineering?" Naruto nodded his head, wondering what Connors was proposing. The biologist ran a hand through his brown hair before pulling up a display of two separate DNA strands.

"If you recall, we had first talked about cross-species genetics after our breakthrough with our augmented spiders. However, we failed to advance the project any further than the same species and abandoned it. Soon after, we began the new work on genetic engineering, changing genes in developing organisms. I've come to a new theory, why not combine both!?" Connors was practically frantic now, typing multiple equations and commands into his computer, each new equation bringing the two double helix strands together to make something completely new.

"Doctor… is this really what I think it is?" Naruto couldn't help but feel the dread start to fill his chest, something he had only felt a few times before.

"Yes, my boy! We genetically engineer a specimen that is able to perfectly mend with another species DNA, do you know what this means?! We could change the fabric of human evolution!" the blond student sat down, taking a shaky breath as Connors began to rant. Orochimaru, that was where the feeling had come from, a feeling he knew all too well. Disgust at his experiments, the human abominations that had been made all for the sake of immortality. Itachi had told him of his final battle against Sasuke, the monstrosity that had emerged from the younger boy's curse mark. "Naruto, Naruto are you still with me?" the former shinobi, glanced up at his professor and friend, shaken from his tainted memories.

"Yeah, I'm with you… how do you plan to achieve this Doc?" Connors smiled and proceeded to type again, pulling up the notes about cross-species.

"Well, we need to make sure we can mend animal DNA to mammalian without catastrophe. Without a baseline, we don't know what to get rid of during the engineering part. That is why we have our little friends, Wilfred and Annie." handing the secret vigilante the three-legged male mouse, Naruto still couldn't shake the chill that flew up is spine the more he thought about it. The doctor, ignorant of Naruto's distress, turned his head to look at his blond associate. "So, will you help me? This could be groundbreaking work."

"I just need a second Doc, please." putting down Wilfred, the Uzumaki walked into Connor's private office to think. He didn't know what to think, he couldn't compromise his morals, but he couldn't ignore the scientific promises either. Connors was right. If they pursued this they could change the world, help millions of people. Looking around, Naruto noticed the various picture Connors had of him and his family, before and after his injuries. "A ninja back then would've done anything to get his arm back if it was lost in combat…" Steeling his nerves, the blond smiled. Opening the door, Naruto nodded to Connors quizzical look. "I'm in."

 **Two Weeks Later - 11:17 p.m**

"It's stabilizing!"

"Make sure the mammalian proteins don't overpower the animal's, we need a perfect mixture!"

"God Dammit!" Connors threw his glasses to the ground, punching his desk as the simulation had failed yet again. Naruto sat down in his lab coat, giving Curt a moment to vent. They had been working on this for weeks and with very small advances. Mixing like DNA was easy, but having to mix something as simple as reptilian to mammalian was proving tricky. They had to make sure neither one overpowered the other, something Naruto had likened to how he would balance natural energy and his chakra to achieve Sage Mode. Feeling wetness in his hand, the blond hero noticed a cut in his palm with a handprint on his jacket.

'Must've gripped my hand so hard that I drew blood, we're really trying to make this work.' quickly webbing a bandage without being seen, Naruto stood up and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Are we going to try again Doc?"

"No, you should go home, get some rest. I'll see you first thing in the morning Mr. Uzumaki." the blond reluctantly agreed, walking towards the door and hanging up his lab coat.

"Are you sure Doctor Connors? I'm more than willing to stay in and…"

"Go, boy! You deserve some fun in your life, stay up, get drunk, do whatever you kids do when it's almost midnight." Naruto smiled at his mentor and began to pack his stuff up. "Can't keep spending every night in here with me, Cindy will start to get jealous." the doctor gave his student a knowing look, getting a sheepish laugh in return, and watched as the younger man left the room. Glancing over to the door, Connors moved quickly and locked it. Grabbing his student's lab coat, Connors made sure not to touch the bloody handprint and cut out the mark from the coat. Within minutes, the war veteran had begun to analyze the former shinobi's blood.

"I shouldn't be doing this, but I just have to know. Human DNA is our goal, I should at least know what we're working towards." the older scientist loaded the DNA sample into his database and watched as various cells appeared over the holo table. "Now if I infuse the reptilian DNA…" with a few clicks of his keyboard, the reptilian DNA began to mix with Naruto's human DNA.

"Fascinating, it's working perfectly, almost as if it is purifying itself… this is unprecedented, just what are you Naruto?" Curt began to take notes and write down ideas, too focused on his own writing to notice how the human cells soon started to become more animalistic in nature until there was only lizard DNA left.

 **The Next Morning - 8:00 am**

"We're doing fine Cid, Connors and I are actually really close," Naruto explained as he swung from building to building. He had crashed when he had gotten home to his apartment, and left just as early to patrol before his morning classes started. The red and black-clad hero did his best to calm his girlfriend's worries, though he wasn't getting anywhere fast. "Look, Cid, I've gotta go, I think there's trouble ahead… no, I do not just say that to stop talking to you! Cid, I promise I'm not lying…" attaching to the side of a skyscraper, Spider-Man, felt his spider-sense ring in his skull. "Love you too, babe." tapping the side of his mask, the masked hero tightened his muscles and dived to the streets below.

'Let's just hope this doesn't get out of hand, shall we?' grabbing hold of a light pole, the hero swung around and perched on top. To his annoyance, it was a three-way pile up, a pretty big one it seemed. Nothing he hadn't dealt with before, but the sight of a group Demons gathered around the wreck made his blood boil.

"{This was too easy.}" a Demon commented as his men gathered any valuables they could from the wreckage and dead bodies.

"{Easy payday boss, and no spider in sigh-aiii!}" one of the men, holding an old woman's purse he had grabbed off her dead body, felt his back break as the so-called spider landed on top of him, forcing his face into the pavement. The other Demons immediately summoned their weapons, various energy powered swords and guns aimed at the masked hero.

"{Who's next…}" Spider-Man slowly stood up and glared, the mechanical lenses narrowing. Hearing him speak their language, all the Demons felt a chill run down their spines. Seemingly in a flash, the vigilante had his fist embedded into a Demon's stomach. The men began yelling and three more men rushed his form. Dodging a few swipes from a blazing sword, Naruto webbed the glowing blade and yanked it, tossing it back at the owner before performing a web strike to knock the man to the ground. Turning to another, Spider-Man threw a few jabs at a goons chest before knocking him out with a roundhouse kick. Seeing the last of the men foolish enough to gang up on him, Naruto made a 'come hither' motion, barely hiding the wide smile under his mask. The Demon, enraged and seeking vengeance for his brothers, inflamed in hands and charged at the masked man. Spider-Man parried multiple strikes, countering with a solid hit to the chest before jumping into the air and wrapping his legs around his opponent's head, finishing the motion by slamming the Demon's head into the ground. Naruto got up and glared at the leader, with two well-placed web lines, he pulled the Demon towards him before performing a lariat and slamming him to the ground.

"Now, how about you tell me where your leader is, and I won't leave you hanging upside down from a light pole?" removing the Demon's mask, the man on the ground spit in response. "Well, can't say I didn't try." webbing up a cocoon for him, Naruto did just what he said he would, and felt a small bit of joy as the Japanese man tried his best to take back his refusal to answer.

"Well, you did quite the job here Spider." Spider-Man turned to see someone he would call a friend in most situations. Though he didn't know if the sentiment was shared. Her black hair was a little past her shoulders and she wore a black and brown blazer and sweater combo. She finished her outfit with black dress pants and low heels.

"Ahh Lieutenant, err Captain Jones, a pleasure to see you here." Captain Jessica Jones was someone the blond could never read. He reminded him of Tsunade and Sakura at the same time. She was fierce and had a quick temper, but also indulged a bit too much in the alcohol for his tastes. Jess had been helping him for months now, and she had been the one feeding him most of his info about the Demons aside from Gwen, Mary Jane filled in snippets with what she learned on the street.

"Don't flatter me arachnid, you've been pretty hard on these Demons for a while, I'm starting to think they killed your dog." Naruto rolled his eyes at her joke and shook her hand.

"As long as you feed me them, I'll keep catching them in my web." now it was Jessica's turn to roll her eyes. The older woman pulled out a flask and took a swig.

"And that's why I was looking for you actually, I'm starting to think you going after these guys is a little bit more personal than you let on. You should take a break. I'll start sending my SWAT guys into bases and you focus on other cases." the masked vigilante stared at the police Captain before a growl came through his throat.

"Take a break? Jessica look around you. If I take a break, people die." both of them looked around at the carnage and Jessica said a small prayer to the souls who had been lost. "Sending SWAT? These Demons have been around for months and the only one making a dent is me! It's a suicide mission Jones! I'm not one of your lapdogs that you can order around, so I'm going to find Mr. Negative and bring him in, whether you want me to or not!" both of them were silent as Naruto began to realize what he had just done. The hero was inches away from the Captain's face, and even with heels, Naruto still stood a head over her. He was breathing heavily through his mask, and he could feel the heat his skin radiated through the cloth. Taking a few steps away, the former ninja did his best to breathe again and noticed that the firemen and police officers who arrived had also begun to stare at the duo.

"I-I… I'm so sorry Jessica…" the look in the older woman's eyes told him she understood, and the experienced shinobi part of the blond couldn't help but notice the fact that the black-haired beauty didn't even flinch when he freaked out on her. "I'll take a break from these Demons. I'll be seeing you, Captain." Jessica nodded and watched him as the hero swung away, doing his best to hide his guilt.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' Spider-Man asked himself, mindlessly swinging through New York's concrete jungle. He wasn't even patrolling anymore, he hadn't stopped a single crime since he had yelled at Jess, and it was already 7:00 in the evening. 'I haven't blown up like that in a long time, maybe Jones is right, all this crime-fighting is going to my head. I never even worked this high intensely back home.' landing back at his apartment, the wall-crawler opened his window and walked into the bathroom, holding back a smile at the girl he loved lying in his bed. Standing in front of the mirror, Naruto took his mask off and gave his face a once over. "I really do look like crap…" he offhandedly commented, noticing the very clear bags under his eyes and the 5 o'clock shadow on his face. The blond paused on his cheeks for a moment and pulled in closer, "Well… that's new." you could barely make it out, but the faintest trace of his whisker marks was starting to appear. Shaking the thoughts and new development away, Naruto decided against the razor and stripped from his costume, but not before making sure to put it in the lockbox under his bed. "Take me away Morpheus." the blond mumbled as he fell onto his side of the bed and drifted off.

* * *

"You've been busy Doc…" Naruto watched as his professor frantically ran around their lab. It was the evening of the next day and the blond had decided to take a break from all the superheroing. Naruto vaguely rubbed his bare chest, it was rare that he wouldn't have his costume under his clothes, and when it wasn't on him, it was in his bag. But back to why he was there, the blond had received a call about urgently getting to the lab and he was met by a very busy Dr. Curtis Connors, on a Sunday nonetheless. Taking his lab coat off the table, which he thought he had hung yesterday, and it definitely didn't smell like ramen like it usually did, maybe Connors had already tossed their old ones and gotten new ones. Either way, he quickly put it on and jumped into a rolling chair, rolling across the lab trying to get a semblance of what was going on. "So what's up, Dr. Connors? I thought we agreed no lab time on Sunday's shouldn't you be home?

"I was working all night yesterday, and then all day today my boy. I've finally sequenced the DNA enough to be able to test it on our furry little friends. Grab the vials and syringe over from the fridge, will you?" moving across the lab in hurry, Naruto pulled four vials of green and blue liquid out of the cool chamber, picking up the mechanical syringe as well, before heading over to Wilfred and Annie. The doctor had already started prepping Wilfred, blue gloves holding the tiny animal gently as he cleaned the spot where the shots would go. Taking the blue vial and inserting it into the syringe, Connors began to inform his student of the process. "Now, the reason I'm giving him this instead of just the formula is that I discovered we couldn't make any more ground with combining the DNA perfectly without a base." the glasses-wearing man obviously neglected to tell his student that the base was synthesized by his (stolen) blood, but this was science and science has never been clean. Watching the white mice adjust to the base of the formula, Connors and Naruto waited with bated breath as they slowly injected the lizard formula into their test subject. Wilfred stumbled a little, shaking as the DNA began to mix inside him. The mouse started shaking more, shaking violently, before he collapsed.

"DAMN IT!" Connors threw his glasses in anger and Naruto held back his own frustration. Wilfred, however, wasn't finished. The three-limbed creature got back up, immediately silencing the two scientists, watching in awe as the mouse born without his left foreleg grew it back in seconds.

"Holy shit… we just mastered cross-species genetics…" the blond looked at his professor in shock, not even believing the words that came out of his own mouth.

"WE FUCKING DID IT!" the two men began to celebrate as they watched Wilfred adjust to having his missing limb back. Naruto released him into the maze they had behind his cage and couldn't hide the smile on his face as the young mouse went through it faster than he ever had. It reminded the blond of when he finally figured out how to throw the Rasenshuriken, the pure euphoria of discovering something thought to be impossible.

"I think we should celebrate Naruto! Quick, go to the professor's lounge and look in the back of the fridge, we keep a bottle of wine there for special occasions." the blond eagerly nodded and left the room, doing his best not to jump off the walls. Finally sitting down for the first time in hours, Curt beamed with pride as he watched Wilfred. "I can't believe we did it, Martha and Billy will be ecstatic… " the vet looked at his arm and smiled, "And I'll be whole again soon." However, his pleasing thoughts were interrupted by a slow clapping coming from the hallway.

"Yes old friend, you truly have changed the world." Curtis Connors was never a hateful man, but you'd be hard-pressed to believe that with the glare that was on his face. The man wore a seemingly normal but elegant black and white suit. His frame was one of not only confidence but strength. This was truly a man of not only intellect but of mystery. Curt could recognize that slimy voice and ridge lined hair anywhere.

"Norman Osborn, for what do I owe the pleasure."

"Haha, you don't have to humor me Connors, and relax I'm here for business, your new breakthrough to be exact!"

"Spit it out Norman, I don't have time for your games."

"Always to the point you were, old sport. I'll cut the chase, the board of directors thinks we spend enough with R&D genetics as we are, let alone helping to fund ESU's latest science projects, so Oscorp is starting to reduce ESU's funding. I did my best to fight for you but I can only do so much." Connors rolled his eyes at his former colleague and stood from his chair to get up close and personal.

"Your name is on the damn building Osborn, so it's bull you couldn't fight it. Besides, with the discovery we made they have no reason to defund us now." Norman chuckled and began to walk toward Wilfred in his glass cage.

"Ah yes, this little fellow here, don't worry, I'll inform the board soon enough. But that doesn't stop the fact that you need to produce more results."

"What do you mean "more results", I just achieved something that was supposed to be damn near impossible."

"I know, which is why you need to start human testing. Tomorrow." Connors couldn't believe his ears and grit his teeth.

"Human trials? Osborn are you insane? If anything we got lucky with a mouse, we don't know what this formula could do to primitive primates, let alone cognitive human beings."

"This isn't up for discussion Connors. Human trials by tomorrow or I'll pull all funding personally and you can go back to your radiation experiments and your little spiders. Call me if you're in the need of, shall we say, less willing participants." and with those words, the man left, sidestepping Naruto at the door and disappearing from view.

"Uh, Doc, was that who I think it was?" Curt did his best to hide his disapproval.

"The one and only, Norman Osborn. Have you met him before?"

"No, just heard about him, one of my friends is dating his son actually, Harry I think his name is." the blond walked over to his mentor and set the two glasses and bottle down, popping it open with a quick movement and pouring both of them a glass. The Doctor smiled at the white substance and took a sip, yet he still couldn't get over his mood.

"You know what? I think I'm going to pack up for the day, Naruto, you should head home, get some sleep tonight. Feel proud, we'll pick up first thing tomorrow morning." Naruto, sensing he had no room to argue began to pack up his equipment, before turning back to ask if he was leaving with him.

"I'll be right behind you Uzumaki." watching the man he could almost call a son leave, the veteran violently threw his notes from the table to the floor. "Damn you and your insipid games, Osborn! If only I had more time…" Curt looked over to his computer and cautiously began to pull up the data from Naruto's blood. Playing the results back, the aged man couldn't help feeling antsy. What he was thinking about was highly unethical on every level, and if it failed, he could not only lose his license but his job and reputation as well. 'But if it works…' Connors kept telling himself. Deciding that either way he was shit out of luck, Curt took the base and the lizard serum and mixed them together. Analyzing the result, Connors inserted his own blood into the equation and began to run tests. Combining the base and the serum seemed to make the formula even more potent, and with simulated nerve activity, the cells reacted at will. Taking the vial of the formula into his hand, Connors grabbed his taser and quickly charged it with electricity. "Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke…" taking a deep breath, the scientist injected the serum into his right stub and immediately regretted the decision. The experience was worse than all the times he had been wounded and losing his arm combined, all he could feel was a fire spread through his body. The pain multiplied by 10 in his right arm, but Curt could help but stare as the amputated arm began to expand outward, growing in a protective film like covering as the long stub began to grow fingers and soon an entire hand had formed.

Connors tearily tore away the film, nearly breaking down as he saw his right arm for the first time in God knows how many years. The grown man's sobs of joy soon turned to a choked gasp for air, as he started noticing scales litter his arm. They soon began to multiply in quantity across both his arms and Connors began to feel his head to pound louder and louder. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! It wasn't ready, damn you, Osborn, damn you to hell! … Yesssss, Ossborn, he'sss the reason I'm like thisssss." Connors' voice began to become distorted as his eyes began to burn a sickly yellow. " Curtis Connors isssss weak, let Ossssborn walk all over him, but now, the Lizard will take back what is rightfully hisssss." Curt's body began to twist and turn, his face becoming elongated and a snapping snout formed. His back arched as he grew in height and size. Breaking open his window, Curt Connors, no, the Lizard went into the night.

 **15 Minutes Earlier - ESU Campus**

Walking a decent distance from the campus, Naruto instinctively went to take off his shirt before remembering that he was running spider free. "This whole 'taking a break' thing sucks when I actually need to get places." pulling his shirt back down, Naruto looked at the lab coat he had webbed to the alley wall he was in and groaned. Connors and he had a rule to leave their coats in the building only, as they would encounter fewer contaminants than if they were worn around campus. 'The Doc was probably so out of it he forgot I had it on.' grabbing all of his stuff from the wall, the blond began to book it back to the Science Hall on foot, parkouring around any obstacles he encountered to speed up his arrival.

Walking up to the still unlocked door, Naruto knocked and called out to the doctor as he entered, "Hey Doc, sorry I forgot my coat was still on, but why are you still here…" seeing the broken window, Naruto threw his coat on the hanger and tuned into his senses, crouching into a cautious stance. "Is anyone there? Dr. Connors? Helloooooo?" hearing noise over by the mouse cages, Naruto slowly moved towards the cages only to cover his mouth in horror. In front of the blond was a large dog-sized Wilfred, his left foreleg now deformed and lizard-like as scales covered almost his entire body. 'Damn it all to hell.' Naruto thought with disgust and sadness as he saw Wilfred's bloody mouth and Annie's broken cage. "Ate your own sister, not cool." Wilfred turned and hissed at Naruto, reacting to his presence by pouncing at the blond. Reacting faster than he thought he would, Naruto grabbed a piece of broken glass and threw the shard through the mutated animal's skull. "Poor bastard, I need to find Connors and tell him about what happened." giving the room a once over, Naruto noticed that the doctor's computer was still on and glowing. Walking over, the former shinobi held in a curse as he saw the data displayed on the computer. Four DNA strands were presented, a template named "Naruto", one named "Lizard", another named "Formula" and the last, named "Connors".

"I can't believe him, he probably got my blood from yesterday, damn it! Connors, what have you done?" Naruto began clicking through various files and could only get more frustrated. The base they used for Wilfred was just a mock-up of his DNA combined with various other human-like DNA structures from various files. Mixing the base with lizard DNA led to the formula, which on the surface was nearly perfect, however after a certain amount of time, almost as if whatever was in his blood that was protecting the normal cells from being taken over had run out of juice, the cells immediately were taken over by the animalistic lizard DNA. "Bastard, just where are you Doc…" a vibrating in his pocket distracted him from his thoughts as he checked the caller. Of course, Cindy. 'Of all times…'

"Hey babe, what's up?"

"It's already 11:30 Naruto, you told me you'd be home half an hour ago. You know we have to meet my family for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow." Naruto resisted the urge to yell out loud and facepalmed at forgetting their plans.

"I'm sorry Cid, I totally forgot, I'll be there in a little bit, I promise." hanging up the phone, the blond made his way out the broken window and crawled to the roof. Digging into his bag, the secret hero was relieved at the sight of his mask in his hands. "Good thing I always keep a spare. Hopefully, Connors can wait until tomorrow. I just need to get home and get some sleep." slipping the cloth on, a feeling the spiky-haired man could even say he missed, he started swinging home. 'Who the hell celebrates Thanksgiving two days early anyway? Must be a Korean thing…'

 **The Next Day: The Moon Residence - 2:00 p.m**

"So, how do you like my family Naru?" the couple was sitting in Cindy's childhood bedroom, Cid doing her best to not be embarrassed every time Naruto decided to tease her about anything.

"They are… certainly interesting." the blond held back a shudder at the dinner conversation that had occurred. Cid's mom had asked him about his life and he gave the standard answers. A college student who was raised by his uncle who passed away months after he had moved to New York City. That was all fine and dandy until he told them that his uncle was Japenese, and by extension he was Japanese. The smile on her mother's face turned to a frown just as quickly. Her younger brother, having no tact, immediately shouted that he didn't look Japenese at all, in which the blond replied in Japenese, "{Looks can be deceiving.}" her father gave him a look of apology and asked what his uncle did. The blue-eyed blond told them of how his uncle was an immigrant of a relatively wealthy Japanese family but had decided to leave the country for citizenship as a young man, and he and his wife had moved to the Big Apple on his 16th birthday. A year later that wealth would mean nothing as the two were imprisoned in internment camps, and a year after that he would volunteer to be part of an all Japanese regiment in the U.S Army, saying goodbye to his pregnant wife. After that, the rest of the dinner was relatively peaceful despite the occasion glare he would receive.

"Yes. They very much are, but they're my family and I love them." Naruto smiled and pulled her closer.

"I'm glad you do, a family is something you never risk, something you never want to lose." thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, Naruto's phone brought him out of his somber thoughts. Seeing an unknown number, the blond prepped himself for a telemarketer that he could prank.

"Uzumaki…" a raspy and familiar voice came on and Naruto shot out of the small bed, moving to close the door and giving Cindy a look telling her to stay put and quiet.

"Connors… is that you?"

"Uzumaki." this response was clearer now, but still altered and different.

"I know it's you Connors, you dumb bastard. Stealing my blood to use as a hypothesis is one thing, using it as the foundation of your formula is another. I know you used it on yourself, Connors, I just don't know why… you turned Wilfred into a monster, Curt. I want to help you before you turn into a monster too, just please Doc, as a friend, tell me where you are." silence was all he could hear before the man spoke once again.

"The lab… I'm at the lab." a click and the call had ended.

"Damn it…" Naruto looked at his phone and then back at Cindy. "You know, I'm starting to hate this job." Cindy chuckled at his poor attempt at a joke.

"Just go find him, and stay safe, I'll deal with my parents." Naruto nodded and quickly threw off his shirt… before remembering his costume was still in his lockbox. Cid gave him a look and smiled.

"Not that I mind, but maybe not the best choice of dress right now."

"Ugh, Naruto Uzumaki should never take breaks ever again, dattebayo."

* * *

Walking up to Connor's lab, Naruto cautiously opened the door, seeing an empty classroom with Connors facing the police tape covered window. He was wearing a lab coat with a hood on in order to cover himself, but the blond could still see the dramatic change in frame and size. The secret vigilante stopped in his tracks as he heard his professor take a deep breath.

"Uzumaki… didn't think you would come…"

"Of course I would Curt, I just want to help you. Please, Curt, we can fix this." the former shinobi was slowly moving toward his former professor. It was hard not to notice how worse the room had gotten since last night. Various claw marks littered the desk and papers had been strewn about. The young man was only a few feet behind Connors now, and yet his spider-sense was still as quiet as a mouse.

"Fix, no, I don't deserve to be fixed. Osborn, he'ss the reason. Forced human trials." Naruto frowned as he watched the doctor hold up and clench his right fist, the one that was supposed to be gone.

"Then let me help you, we can fix this and then we can sue Oscorp into the ground." these words, meant as a reassurance, had the adverse reaction. The blond's spider-sense blared, forcing him to jump back as Connors lashed out in his direction.

"SUE?! Osborn deserves to die for what he'sss done! He'ssss the one who forced my hand, and he deserves to die for his insolence, and I will be the one to do it!" Naruto could only watch in horror as the reptilian man grabbed another syringe of the poison and injected it into his right arm. Connors dropped to the floor screaming in pain, only for those screams to turn to laughter. Naruto moved closer to the downed man, yet wasn't fast enough to stop the swipe that sent him through the police tape.

"Damn it!" Naruto quickly flipped over midair and used his hands to slide down the glass windows. The distressed hero watched as his former mentor, now a hulking lizard, his white lab coat in tatters as it hugged onto his stretched body. The animalistic man leaped from the window, making a beeline off campus towards the city streets. Naruto swore to himself and ran up to the roof, Spider-Man appearing moments after in pursuit.

"Damn he's fast…" the vigilante huffed as he continued to follow Connors' chaos into the city. However, the lizardman quickly turned a corner into an alley, where the red and black-clad hero watched him throw open a manhole cover and slip into the sewers. "Alright Lizard, take me to your nest."

* * *

He had followed the Lizard through most of the sewer system, but now the trail had gone cold and he was now stuck in a large drainage section of the sewer with several tunnels on all sides. Naruto looked around and came up with an idea. As a shinobi, he had seen ninja used in a variety of ways, but the most common was as a tripwire. Shooting a web line down each tunnel, Spider-Man connected each strand until he had a makeshift web in the center above the flowing waterfall. "Well, at least I can relax for a bit." laying down on his web, the blond let out a sigh and took out his mini camera from his belt. 'I hate doing this, but if I can get a picture of Connors, Robbie will eat it up.' hopping off of the web to the top of the chamber, the blond webbed his camera to the ceiling and set it to auto-capture. However, the relative quiet was interrupted by the reverb of one of his webs moving.

"Finally, alright Doctor, come into my parlor." the masked hero crawled to the darkest corner and waited, holding his breath as he watched Connors crawl from one of the pipes into the center of the web.

"Ssspider-Man… where are you?"

"Heads up tall, dark, and ugly!" performing a web strike, the hero blindsided Connors with a double heel kick to the head, immediately performing a sweep kick to knock down the monster-sized lizard. The Lizard was faster though, catching the man's leg with his arm and threw a downward claw strike on the vigilante, one that Naruto caught and struggled to fight against.

"Ahh glad you could join me, alwaysss found an arachnid-like you particularly annoying. Firssst I'll deal with you, and the Osssborn." applying more pressure, Naruto's lenses widened as he watched the Lizard's claws elongate, slowing growing up to his chest as it broke through the cloth and Kevlar mesh to pierce his skin.

"AGHH!" channeling more of his strength, Spider-Man pushed back enough to free his right hand, which promptly shot web fluid into the Lizard's eyes. This loss of sight was enough to give the injured man space to kick Connors into the wall of the chamber. Taking deep breaths to calm his heart, the vigilante's hand few to the left side of his chest and noticed how exact it was. 'He stabbed me just under one of my left ribs, any deeper and he would've pierced my heart. He may have an animal dominated brain, but he's still just as intelligent. I need to be careful.' webbing up the area quickly, Spider-Man got into a fighting stance, prepared to go again. Connors roared at him, but a flash of light distracted him. The camera flash to be exact, which was just what the masked blond needed, leaping across the room with the intent to knock out the oversized pet. What he didn't expect was Connors to bat him away like a tennis ball, and boy did he hit hard. Spider-Man slammed into the concrete with a loud crack, embedding a small imprint of his body into the foundation.

"Now that wasn't nice, lizard breath." the injured man pulled himself off the wall and looked at Connors, noticing the stale air that hit his face. Throwing a hand to his face, the blond sighed at the fact that the right half of his mask was nearly shredded, with various sections of hair as well as his eye being revealed. Connors roared again and this time Naruto could hear the various movements from each of the tunnels. Hundreds of tiny reptiles began to pour from the tunnels grabbing onto him and biting as much as they could. 'They'll overwhelm me soon, I have to retreat.' seeing only one option left, the blond took a deep breath and jumped down into the water drainage system, leaving the Lizard alone and to his thoughts.

'Those eyes, that hair, the camera, hehe, Narutooooo.'

 **Hours Later: Hell's Kitchen**

"You sure you don't want my help, Naruto?" the aforementioned blond hissed as the alcohol hit the various wounds on his chest.

"Matt, I appreciate it, but I just need you to keep an ear to the ground if he doesn't hit Oscorp tonight. Connors is my mess, and I'm going to fix it, I'll swing by Norman tonight, and if he's safe that means Connors is still out there." nodding at his friend's words, Matt finished the stitching and walked over to his kitchen, tossing Naruto a small bottle of whiskey.

"For the ride home." the blind lawyer told him, and the ninja couldn't help but roll his eyes, but he would accept the gift regardless. Pulling his costume back on, as well as grabbing a replacement mask from his bag, Naruto pulled out his phone to see five messages and two missed calls from Cindy. Leaving Matt's apartment, after taking a swig of the whiskey, of course, the now masked hero fed the audio into his mask.

"What's up, Cid, why are you calling?" the blond could vaguely hear lots of chattering and vaguely wondered where she was.

"MJ was the one constantly calling you, still don't like how she learned my passcode but whatever. I just wanted to tell you I'd be late getting to your apartment because Mary Jane le me interview her boyfriend for the business section of my journalism class. I'll be at Oscorp with her and Osborn Jr." Naruto's heart sank as what she said sank in.

"Cid whatever you do, stay away from Norman Osborn, as far as possible. I think Connors is going for him tonight." without any more to say, Naruto hung up and started swinging as fast as he could toward ESU. 'I might not be able to physically beat Connors down, but I know what can stop him and save his life.'

* * *

"That was weird," Cid commented to herself as she put her phone away. The last thing she had heard was Naruto telling her to stay away from Norman Osborn before she walked into a room that cut off her cell service.

"What was weird?" MJ asked her friend as they sat down on the couch. Cid didn't know much about the Osborn's, but if a 21-year-old guy had his own luxury suite inside of one of the biggest companies worldwide, she knew he had some connections.

"Nothing just didn't expect the cell service to die so quick in here." MJ chuckled and nodded.

"I was surprised when I first came here too, Harry says that they keep it that way so no one could transmit any sensitive information from his or his dad's offices." Cindy nodded and cleared her throat.

"So, Mr. Osborn, how does it feel to be the right-hand man of Oscorp?" Harry smiled as he poured the three of them glasses of scotch.

"Aw c' mon Cindy, I told you to call me Harry. I like to keep "Mr. Osborn" reserved for my father." both women chuckled at his childish pout and Cindy asked the question once again, this time adhering to his request. "Well I didn't really have a part in the creation and buildup of Oscorp, that was all my father, who is a brilliant man by the way. Anyway, while my title says Oscorp CEO #2, I really run the medical department of Oscorp. The things we could do with modern medicine, especially many of our simplest pills, are marvels of engineering and science, and I hope to one day create something just as great." just then, a figure burst through the door with a smile on his face.

"Ah, Harry wasn't expecting you here. I hope I'm not interrupting ladies." Norman continued his way toward his son, taking the scotch out of the boy's hand and downing it in one gulp.

"It's no problem, Mr. Osborn, our friend Cindy here was just giving him an interview for her journalism class." Normal nodded at Mary Jane's words and told them to carry on as he grabbed a seat. The room was awkwardly silent for a moment before the interview continued. All seemed to be going well until MJ noticed something seemingly happening outside the large glass window by the meeting table.

"Mr. Osborn, do you have men cleaning the windows this late at night?" Norman got up from his seat and walked up to the window, a confused look on his face.

"Not usually, and besides, we're on the 35th floor." MJ nodded and sighed.

"You're right, but I swore I saw something in the window - oh my God..." the four other occupants looked at the fearful woman with confusion before the two figures crashed through the window.

"JESUS, EVERYBODY RUN, NOW!" Harry shouted as the two figures wrestled with each other on the now broken table.

"OSBORN! YOU ARE MINE!" the larger creature shouted before his mouth was forcibly shut by a glob of webbing.

"You talk way too much for a giant Lizard." the other figure replied with exhaustion clear in his voice. The man flipped back for some distance as he got into a fighting stance again. It was none other than The Amazing Spider-Man, and he looked even worse for wear than the sewers. A variety of slashes and cuts were across his costume, with dirt and dust peppered all over. His right glove was missing two fingers and his entire left forearm was bare and bloody for the world to see. Moving up to his mask, the lenses were both cracked, with the right one missing a chunk, revealing his ice-blue eyes. Blond hair could be made out as the top of the mask was ripped in multiple places.

'Ugh this sucks, and my chest hurts... and my arms... and my legs… this is really bad.' Naruto sighed to himself. He had found Connors near the top of the building and the two had fought their way down and were unlucky enough, or lucky in Connors' case, to find Norman Osborn standing in a window with no protection. Naruto took a breath and flinched as a sharp pain erupted in his side. So not only did his stitches reopen, but his ribs were broken as well. Seeing the crazed look in Connors' yellow eyes, the hero knew he would have to act fast. Spider-Man turned his head to look at the other occupants of the room and was horrified to see that not only was Norman's son there, but Cindy and Mary Jane were with him as well. 'You've gotta be kidding me…'

"All of you need to leave! Osborn Sr., he's after you!" the blond shouted and locked eyes with Cindy. A simple look between them told her Naruto was deadly serious. Watching them scatter out the door, the Lizard roared in annoyance. Spider-Man let out a sigh of relief and cracked his neck, laughing at his opponent. "Don't worry about them Lizzie, I'm the one you need to worry about." Connors looked at him and a smile broke out on his monstrous.

"I have his scent, I'll find him soon after I deal with you, Naruto." Spider-Man froze, his lenses widening and then narrowing.

"How'd you figure it out, Connors?"

"Curt Connors became a weak fool after he lost his arm! The Lizard is the best of Connors' mind in a body fit for it. It was easy once you got careless, Uzumaki, your camera, your concern and knowledge under the mask, those eyes of yours just confirm it." Naruto tightened his fists but continued to glare at his former teacher.

"You know I just want to help you Connors, but I can't if you stay down this path." the Lizard sneered at him, and stood at his full height, about a foot taller than the bug-themed hero.

"Then you'll just have to die with him." lunging for the blond, Spider-Man did his best to avoid and parry as many swipes as he could, but the Lizard was just faster and stronger than he could keep up with. A diagonal swipe tore across his chest, ripping through his armor like butter before he was picked up and thrown out one of the unbroken windows. The vigilante recovered after a few moments, sliding down the glass and steel.

"Now that, agh God damn, was just rude." the hero held his side and did his best to remove any stray glass that had hit him. Looking up, annoyed at how he was on a side of a building, again, the hero could only sigh in frustration as he watched the Lizard bolt towards the top floor. "And of course, Osborn is still in the building… idiot!"

* * *

Norman Osborn never apologized, not sincerely at least. It was clear just who the creature was, his former friend Curt Connors, and yet part of him felt a smugness at the fact that the man had turned himself into a monster just to continue his research at the same pace. He hadn't threatened to get rid of his work, only to stop the funding, yet, Connors still reacted the way he did. 'That man had been crazy since he lost that arm of his.' he had decided to head to his penthouse suite, despite the protest of his son and friends. The room had fortifications in place on the windows and doors, besides, the man wasn't helpless himself. Speaking of, Osborn could already hear a roar of frustration behind him.

"Do you like it, Connors? Reinforced bulletproof glass, not even you can break that." Connors could only growl in response, before smiling to himself and crawling up to the roof. Suddenly, all the lights inside of the penthouse burst, a redlight backup generator coming on just as quickly. 'Damn it.' Norman thought to himself, opening up his hidden armory and pulling out a pump-action shotgun, loading it just as quickly.

"Normannnn, I can smell youuu." the Lizard's voice was distant and sporadic, seemingly coming from everywhere.

"I'm not afraid of you Connors, come out and face me like a man!" silence, the only sound being the humming of the red light. Turning to face the darkness, Norman did his best to calm his speeding heart.

"YOU SHOULD BE!" the Lizard shot out from the shadows, teeth and claws bared, only to receive a face of buckshot.

"I told you, Connors!" Norman pumped the weapon and fired. "I'm not afraid of you!" he fired again. "Not as a man!" again. "Not as a monster!" another round chambered and fired. "Never!" Norman fired his final shell with a sigh, dropping the shotgun and falling to his knees. His adrenaline was gone, and his body was sore from the rapid shooting, but it was worth it as he stared at the limp body in front of him. All seemed to be well until the body started twitching, a hissing sound was made as the shotgun pellets began to fall from the wounds and to the ground. Within seconds, the Lizard was back to looking unharmed and at full strength.

"Are you afraid now, Norman, do I make your heart tremble in fear?" no response, the older man seemingly resigned to his fate. "Any last words?"

"Yeah, catch." the Lizard stopped only to receive a table to the back. Naruto had to hold in a scream as his muscles burned from the use of strength.

"Your insolence continues to infuriate me, boy, you can wait to see your maker, Osborn, the spider dies first." Naruto smiled under his mask. Good, he was the target now. Leaping to a nearby wall, the blond had to move quickly as his animalistic opponent chased him through the vent both parties had entered from. Emerging onto the roof, Naruto did his best to get as much distance as he could, but even his spider-sense couldn't help him move fast enough to avoid being pounced on. The two rolled towards the edge of the building, the Lizard gaining the upper hand, managing to grab hold of the blond's neck. Connors smiled, removing the blond's mask and couldn't help but gloat.

"Do you see the irony, Naruto, the two of us, beings altered by science because of the same organization." the confusion on the hero's face told him to explain. "The genetically altered spider, one of our first presentations when you arrived. There were only 9 in their cases, 'where was the 10th?' we wondered. Finding it crushed on the ground wasn't surprising, it had escaped after all, but it bit you didn't it? Somehow, your DNA allowed for a perfect bond. You are the perfect cross-species, Mr. Uzumaki. To think, we wouldn't have made those spiders if not for Oscorp's funding." the doctor held his student over the edge and sneered. "We shouldn't be fighting each other, my boy, we should be fighting for the advancement of humankind. I don't want to kill you, Naruto, join me, together we could make history. What do you say to that?"

"Bottoms up." grabbing the vial of liquid from his belt, the unmasked vigilante quickly shoved the vial down his former mentor's throat, crushing the vial, ensuring that the liquid would be swallowed. The Lizard's eyes widened, losing his grip as he choked and stumbled backward, managing to fall down into the nearby A/C unit. Naruto sighed in relief and fell on his back, listening to Connors moan in pain. It was working, thank God, it was working. Pulling out a second vial, this one inside of a syringe, the blond smiled at his brilliance. Before heading to Oscorp, he had made a pit stop at the lab. 'I couldn't fight you to the death Connors, but I can damn sure save you.' after 20 minutes of work he had achieved his goal. Gene Cleanser, designed to add as many human cells it could and overpower any foreign DNA. If it worked then it would be able to cure Connors.

'It could even cure me, I just hope I don't have to find out.' sitting up, Naruto faced the skyline and smiled. "I can't believe it did it-t-t…" three claws sticking through his stomach was all he saw before he quickly turned, only to see that the hand was already separated from Curt's body.

"Hehe, your serum works boy, don't be afraid." Connors stumbled forward, looking gradually more human, but the process was slowed. The older man stepped on the arm holding the syringe of gene cleanser and removed it from his student's clenched hand. "Truly you are a brilliant scientific mind, Naruto, and I'll always envy you." the scaly doctor straddled the blond on the edge, knowing he was losing strength by the second. The doctor eyed the syringe and gave the blond a sad smile. "But, if I'm not allowed to have power, you aren't allowed either!" with one motion, a motion Naruto would wish he had the power to stop, the one-armed man shoved the needle into the blond's chest, draining the pale yellow liquid into his student, almost with a look of guilt. The blond pushed Connors off of him and removed the needle quickly, trying to rise to his feet, yet feeling too weak to stand.

"You bastard, do you know what you've done?!" Naruto felt his strength drain from him, and his anger grew more. "I was helping people, saving people!" the blond slowly started to gain his footing, his rage fueling him like a fire. "This power came with responsibility, and you wouldn't know a damn thing about that! Without it I can't fight the Demons, I can't find Negative, I can't get home!" his eyes stung with tears, but he didn't care, all he wanted to do was hate. "Everything was taken from me…" the blond's nails started to grow and his hair became wild. "My family, my home, my friends… no more." Naruto picked up Dr. Connors and the former beast was shocked to not see the blue eyes he was used to, but fiery red eyes full of nothing but malice. "NO MORE MERCY!" the doctor opened his mouth to speak, and yet words didn't come, slowly realizing the claws on the blond's fingers had easily slit his throat. Blood seeped from the wound and the last thing Curt Connors saw was the sad, hateful eyes of his former student before he was dropped to the ground below, falling well over 70 stories only to land on the ground, a bloody, broken, and dead mess on the concrete.

Naruto looked at his hands, dropping to the ground, and started to cry. This was it, he was done being Spider-Man. The awareness and small tug on his mind that was bestowed by his spider-sense was gone. The overwhelming power he felt in his limbs had disappeared. The grace, his agility, all moot. He had failed. He failed to save one of his closest friends, causing the death of yet another father figure in his life, only this time, by his own hand. "I guess I'm truly alone now…" the blond trailed off to himself.

" **... Not yet, kit."**

 **AN: WOW. JUST, WOW. I'm finally done with this long-ass piece of sh*t! I stayed up till 2:30 writing this yesterday, and midnight today writing this so you people better be happy! As for these new developments? I know I had complaints about my Naruto not being "Naruto enough" or being a carbon copy of Peter and my goal for this chapter was to show I wasn't being lazy. I didn't just name and face swap Peter Parker. Naruto in this story is Naruto Uzumaki from the anime and manga, and what I feel many forget that this is Naruto taken from the END of the manga. This is a man who has been fighting nonstop in a war for like 3 days straight. A man who only a year ago was taken away from his home without any chakra or way to come back. I did my best with this chapter to truly show that this Naruto is a unique character, as well as Spider-Man, which will soon come to fruit later down the line. Anyway, what a cliffhanger right? I'm kinda proud of myself.**

 **Also, I think a big reason for this delay was not only the want for this to be lengthy, but that my writing style involves very little planning or coordination, I just write. I think I'm going to start making character sheets and outlines of my stories, outside of my chapters, of course, that will allow me to be a lot more consistent with my tone, characters, and plot. Alright, I'm tired and I haven't touched a video game in two days now thanks to you people. Hehe, my new story will most likely be out before Beware My Power chapter 3, as if I wait any longer to express these ideas it would take about a month to get that 3rd chapter out. Enough of my rambling, adios everyone, thank you and don't forget to review! It makes me want to write more and faster!**


	9. Spider-Man: No More!

**AN: Welcome back to your regularly scheduled program. The last chapter we left off with a big reveal that you guys were very receptive to, I hope you enjoy this one! Shout out to all the people who have followed, reviewed, and favorited, it means a lot to see my work get so much love. Not much to say except that I stayed up till 1:30 in the morning for this. LOVE ME DAMN IT!**

 **Act 2**

"You know, I always liked the snow. Shame it never snowed this much back in the village."

" **If my memory serves me well, you were the one complaining in the Land of Snow while saving a princess."** the blond's reminiscent smile turned into annoyance, internally glaring at his bijuu companion.

"You're a real asshole, you know that, Kurama? For once this week, I wasn't brooding and now you've ruined it."

" **It pleases me to see you squeal, Naruto, especially after two years without you. Besides, the princess got your rocks off as a reward so you can't be too mad at the memory."** the blond man rolled his eyes.

"Damn right I can be. Kami I felt like such a little kid, shaking every time she touched me."

" **You were 13…"**

"Not the point you stupid fox! Besides, if only you could see my girlfriend now, she'd blow your feeble chakra mind." Kurama grumbled at the feeble comment but that did bring up an important question.

" **Speaking of, you haven't talked to any of your friends in a month. I was lucky enough to have Matthew convince you to get off your ass and leave his apartment for once. I know I'm pretty awesome, but you can't just keep me, a blind vigilante, and his girlfriend as your only company until you figure out a way for us to get back home."** the former hero frowned at his partner's words. Kurama was right in all regards, he just didn't want to acknowledge it. Losing his powers and killing Connors put Naruto in a bad place, really bad. After burning what remained of his costume in a trash can, the blond grew out all his hair, took to heavy drinking, and neglected his body. It was only Kurama's chakra that kept him from becoming a fat husk of his former self.

" _ **Your father would be ashamed of you Naruto. Look at yourself! You sit around all day, consuming junk and booze like there's no tomorrow. And because of what, losing some abilities you weren't even born with. I've seen weaker ninja than you cope better with losing an arm or a leg than you did losing those damned powers! I woke up when you lost your spider-powers, numb skull. But if you think those powers are more important than me, I'd rather be sealed away in the Gedo statue."**_

Naruto shivered at the memory. It was the coldest Kurama had been to him since they had bonded. A bucket of cold water to the face, as some would say. With much convincing, the blond eventually cut his hair, which when grown out, reminded him of his father, and trimmed his beard. Naruto had insisted to Kurama on keeping the beard but relented to only shorten its length. He wasn't sure how his new (or should he say old?) whisker marks would be received, so a full business beard would take its place on his normally stubble/clean-shaven filled face. Shaking his head from his memories, Naruto was thankful he was on a roof alone, for if anyone had heard him speaking out loud to himself he would've been labeled a basket case for sure. Naruto stood up from the edge of the building and looked out across Hell's Kitchen.

' **Even after everything you've been through, you still have the heart of a hero, Naruto.'** Kurama thought to himself as his container took his black scarf and covered the lower half of his face before pulling up the hood on his brown, leather jacket. The outfit was relatively simple, the scarf inspired by Kakashi and the hooded jacket was somewhat of an evolution of his original "hoodie costume". Finishing it off, the shinobi wore blue jeans with knee pads and some simple boots. Naruto looked down into the alley he was above and frowned as a young family passed by the drug dealers he had been watching for the past 20 minutes.

'Never just a simple night, is it, Kurama?' Naruto didn't wait for a response from his old friend, jumping down into the alleyway behind the dealers as they had begun to approach the family. He landed as quietly as possible, though, not quiet enough to prevent the dealers from turning around. Holding in a scream from the pain that shot through his legs, the blond sighed, 'Even with chakra enhancement, I'm nowhere near where I was when I left home, let alone the level I was at when I had my powers. Seems like five stories is my limit so far.' hearing a scream from the mother, the blond glared at all seven of the dealers, rage coursing through him. The men stared in his direction but seemingly couldn't see anything but his eyes.

"Hey, who the hell are you!?" the blond narrowed his eyes, his body covered in shadow as his eyes gained a dull red glow.

"I am justice, I am the night. I am… here to kick your ass." rushing forward, the hooded blond threw a right hook at the ringleader, a small smile he wished he didn't have as flesh connected with bone. The thugs pulled out miscellaneous weapons, from pipes to switchblades, and rushed their aggressor. Naruto moved fast and countered two of the pipe-hitters, grabbing their arms and breaking them with relative ease, yet wasn't fast enough to avoid a blade stabbing into his left shoulder.

'Fuck! Am I really that rusty? This is the third fight I've been in without powers and I'm still getting blindsided.' doing his best not to seem fazed by the stab, Naruto spun around and grabbed his assailant's arm and threw the man over his shoulder into a pile of trash cans.

" **I told you you wouldn't be 100 percent anytime soon. Whatever happened to you locked off any connection you could've had to your chakra network. It was like a chakra suppression and absorption seal together, any progress your body made toward generating chakra it was gone before you could feel it. You're building up your reserves and strength from scratch, kit."**

'I know, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about it. Thugs like these didn't even make me blink when I had my powers.' having beaten down the rest of the men during Kurama's lecture, though not prevailing unscathed, Naruto looked over to the grateful family, their son looking at him in awe.

"Are all of you alright?" they nodded in response and Naruto sighed once again, cringing at the feeling of cracked ribs and the bruises on his back. The blond grabbed onto a nearby fire escape and smiled underneath his scarf. "Please, get home safe. And try to invest in a car this late at night." with a simple tug, the escape retracted, throwing him upwards, the former ninja using the momentum to get a running start up the wall.

"Thank you Mister Spider-Man!" Naruto heard the boy yell and shook his head.

"I wish I was, kid, but I'm not that guy, not anymore." the blond said to himself, disappearing into the night.

* * *

"You know, if you're going to take my bleed-out spot on the couch, you can at least lay a towel down." Naruto stifled a chuckle as he heard the familiar gruff voice of his "roommate".

"Well, you do have a chair, a slightly bigger chair, and a bed, Matt. I can at least bloody up the place I sleep." the blind vigilante chuckled, deciding to take a chair next to his friend. Naruto looked over at Matt and saw that he was looking about as pleasant as he was. The redhead groaned as he took off his costume, bruises littering his body with various blade wounds on his arms and legs. Matt moved his head in the former shinobi's direction and laughed.

"You sound like hammered shit, what'd you do?"

"You don't look so good either princess, and I just had a run-in with some dealers. I'm not as spry as I used to be. How did you spend your night?" the blond joked, meeting the blank gaze but sly smirk of his friend.

"Funny, and I was hitting one of the Demon bases you told me about, ended up chasing the squirters to the docks where another sect of Demons were, coincidentally, also having an arms deal going on. Pain in the ass to deal with, I'm lucky this was the worst of my injuries." Matt gestured to his body with a laugh. The two crimefighters laughed until the laughter turned into pained groans. Silence enveloped the two before Matt spoke up once again,

"Look Naruto, I may not know how it feels to lose my powers, pretty hard to imagine someone taking my senses away, but I do know what it feels to cut yourself off from everyone. It hurts, but you've been absent from your friend's lives for a month now. They're worried about you, and you know it too. Just, go see them, please. At least let them know you're alive. You were lucky school got out when it did or you'd have more problems." Naruto sighed at his friend's words, reluctant to acknowledge the truth in them. The blond didn't respond for some time, the two men content to simply sit in silence. After about an hour, the former vigilante spoke up.

"Fine, I'll figure out the best way to see them tomorrow." Matt smiled at the prospect of his friend getting back into the world.

"Good, you might want to head into the Bugle too. Haven't read many papers with your work recently." Naruto's eyes widened before he cursed to himself. He hadn't been to the Bugle in weeks, content with working from home and sending in the occasional oriental or Spider-Man photo. Robbie only allowed it because he knew the blond had a lot on his plate school-wise, but if Naruto was a betting man he was sure Jonah was yelling his ear off.

'Knowing Jonah, I'm lucky I haven't been fired already.' with his fate for the morning decided, both men resigned to getting some sleep at 1 a.m.

 **The Next Morning - The Daily Bugle**

Walking into the Bugle put a smile on his face, the controlled chaos that was the newsroom was a fresh change of pace. 'Hate to say it, but I'm glad to be back.' walking up to Robbie's office, the blond was met with not one but two familiar faces.

"Speak of the devil, nice to see you after so long, Naruto. Starting to think I would only hear from you through email from now on. I like the beard." shaking Robbie's hand with a smile Naruto responded, doing his best to ignore the stare he was getting from the only other person in the room.

"Glad to be back Robbie, and thanks, I grew it myself." the blond joked, handing over a packet of photos to his boss, half of them being the rest of his Spider-Man photos with the rest being various pictures of Chinatown. The older man gave him a wide smile and told him he would run them through JJ ASAP. With Robbie, gone, Naruto let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding as he turned to mee the green and inquisitive eyes of the one and only, Mary Jane Watson.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, tiger." the blond was hypnotized by every word she said, noting the differences a month had made. She was wearing her hair in a high ponytail, the color still as glossy and bright as ever. She was wearing a brown jacket that hugged her figure, a white v-neck shirt that did exactly what it was made to do as an orange scarf sat around her neck. Her lips were slightly pink from gloss, and the look she gave him was one of hunger and relief. The relief because she hadn't seen him in forever but hunger? Just where was that coming from?

'Last time I saw her, she was with Harry, and she seemed pretty happy with him… ' shaking his head from thoughts he shouldn't even have, Naruto flashed a smile, "You don't look too bad yourself, Ms. Watson." the blond did his best to ignore the fact that Mary Jane had given him a once over for the third time now. Maybe it was what he was wearing? His recent excursions had allowed for his body to once again take its form of peak performance, and for the first time in forever, he wasn't concerned with hiding his body. His brown jacket was resting on a chair, with a simple all-black t-shirt that hugged his body underneath. He had gone with a pair of khakis this time and wore tan tactical boots. A white and black scarf was wrapped around his neck. 'I look like I belong in a war movie…'

"Let's cut to the chase tiger, where have you been? No one has heard from you in a month and you don't answer any of our calls? Without me telling Gwen and the others that you still sent photos in occasionally, I swear she would've put together a SWAT Task Force to hunt you down." the blond chuckled before MJ surprised him with a tight hug. He slowly felt worse as Mary Jane let out a shuddering breath, "I thought I lost you again, tiger, I'm sorry I'm such a mess." the redhead cleaned her eyes and smiled at him, something the former ninja couldn't help but return.

" **Is this one of those 'girlfriend's' you keep telling me about kit? If so, I highly encourage the mating of this one, your father couldn't resist redheads and I know you're the same."**

'Will you shut up you stupid fox!' the blond fought back the image of "mating" with MJ and took her hands into his.

"Hey, all that matters is that I'm here now. How about we go out for some coffee, I'll invite Gwen, Cid, and the boys." a flash of panic went through MJ's emerald eyes before it was gone sooner than it came.

"I think Cid might be busy, and the boys went to Europe together for winter break. But I know Gwen would love to see you again. C'mon, I doubt you've learned how to drive yet and these heels are totally not made for walking." MJ jiggled her keys in front of his face and walked out of the office, a very noticeable sway in her hips. Naruto could only scratch his beard in thought and once again had to stop his thoughts from going into the gutter.

"Face it, tiger, you hit the jackpot…" he said to himself before following. He flashed Betty a smile on his way out and Kurama couldn't help but laugh at the double-take the older woman gave her blond coworker.

* * *

"You have some explaining to do you bearded bastard." Gwen glared at him, mouth squared and eyes narrowed. Her arms were crossed over her black turtleneck, which didn't leave much to the imagination, her green trench coat laid across the back of her chair. Mary Jane wasn't the only one to change her look with the weather, Naruto noted. Gwen's long shoulder-length hair now stopped at her chin and was distinctly curlier. The black headband she always used was now gone, freeing up more of her hair to frame her face. She wore a purple skirt with her turtleneck and a pair of solid black calf boots.

" **I must say Naruto, you sure know how to pick 'em."** Kuruma snickered inside of his mind.

'If you think she's good looking, wait till you meet the cat lady who tried to claw me to death.' the bijuu laughed before he realized his container was serious.

" **I'm starting to think my absence was more of a blessing than a curse."**

'Quiet, Kurama.' Naruto looked up from his cup of coffee and looked Gwen in the eyes, the look of betrayal clear as day.

"You're right, and I'm sorry. There's no number of excuses I could give that would justify me going off the radar. It's just after I heard about Connors, let's just say I didn't cope well. And add on supposedly how he died… I couldn't do it." the initial fury that was Gwen Stacy slowly turning into understanding before shifting as the woman realized the implications of her friend's words.

"Naruto I'm so sorry I… I didn't realize…" Gwen couldn't form any words to express the sorrow that went through her. The reports were initially that Connors was found dead outside of Oscorp. But of course, as more information was gathered, the story of the Lizard and his battle with Spider-Man led to a few theories. The consensus was that alongside Norman Osborn, Spider-Man fought back the mad doctor. During the fight, Osborn got the upper hand and gave Connors a load of buckshot to the chest out of his office window, and even with Spider-Man trying to save him, he ultimately failed and the man died. However, it was close-knit speculation that Connors had died before the impact, with the only marks upon his body being a slit throat and a very small puncture wound on his chest. Had Spider-Man killed him? Where were the resulting buckshot? Those questions and many more had floated around the departments for weeks, with Captain Jessica Jones shutting it down before it made it out to the public.

"Naru, it'll be alright, Connors was a good man." MJ did her best to console her friend, taking his hands into hers.

"Thank you, both of you. I still wasn't within my right to ignore you guys. Speaking of, I still need to go see Cindy, I bet she's having a cow by now." Gwen and Mary Jane shared a look, the former with a glare that screamed 'you didn't tell him?' and the latter giving an apologetic look. "Okay, every time I mention her, no one will give me a straight answer. What the hell is up with Cid, should I be concerned?" MJ looked at him and gave him an iffy look, tilting her hand back and forth while Gwen facepalmed.

"Naruto the thing about Cindy is…" Gwen was interrupted by the sounds of multiple cars pulling up to the coffee shop window.

" **Something is not right, Naruto, get them to safety now!"** Kurama spoke up from his silence, startlingly his container.

"What the hell… EVERYBODY DOWN!" Naruto screamed out to the coffee shop before bullets made their way through the glass, many patrons not reacting in time to avoid the hail of gunfire. The blond shinobi thanked his training and held the girls down under him as the weapons continued to fire. "God damn it, now of all times…"

"Well, criminals never know good timing. Our first assignment together was proof of that." Naruto nodded at the memory, noting that the hostile group had taken this moment to reload.

"They're going to come inside next, we have to move before they get here." confident that the girls understood him, the blond signaled towards the employee backrooms and slowly began crawling. Thankfully, they were able to make it to behind the counter before the men, who annoyingly enough were Demons, walked in, seemingly taking a sick pleasure in executing and gathering up the survivors.

"We need to get out of here, they're going to check the counter soon enough and we can't get into the back room without them noticing," Gwen whispered to them, doing her best to look through the pastry glass to track their movements.

"We need a distraction…" Mary Jane mumbled more to herself than anything before she shot up from behind the counter, hands up in hope she wouldn't be shot. "My name is Mary Jane Watson with the Daily Bugle! I come in peace." Naruto and Gwen had to admit that MJ was either the craziest person on Earth, or she had ovaries of steel as she managed to keep her composure through the multiple men pointing their weapons at her.

"What in God's name is she doing!?"

"Giving us a way out, Gwen, let's move!" Naruto pulled Gwen's arm, meeting MJ's eyes with a look that told her they would save her.

" **I must give it to the redhead, she is quite brave."**

'She is, but also incredibly stupid. We don't know how long her plea to their want to spread their message will last. We need to act fast.'

" **And how do you intend to do that? You normally rely on the darkness of night to hide the fact you don't have a costume anymore."**

'I'll figure it out you damn fox…'

Managing to make it into the back rooms without any problem, Gwen looked at Naruto expectantly. "Alright, we managed to make it back here, time to save the day, Spidey." Naruto looked at his fellow blond and frowned.

"Gwen, when the Lizard… Connors died, something else happened, I don't have my spider-powers anymore…" Gwen stared at her friend like he had two heads, clearly confused.

"What the hell do you mean you don't have your powers? They're part of your DNA, aren't they?. I mean I understand not being Spider-Man for a while, especially if you were the one who killed Connors, but -"

"Wait a second, what in the world makes you think I killed Connors? Even if I had, it would have nothing to do with whether I would continue to be Spider-Man. People die every day, Gwen, nothing I can do about that but save as many as I can."

"Do you think I'm stupid, Uzumaki? My father is the Commissioner of this whole damned island's police force and you're a highly trained killer from another universe. Don't play me like I'm some damsel! Connors was dead before he hit the ground, hero." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the woman before a gun going off interrupted their arguments, both blondes running to the door to see why. To their relief, MJ was still intact, getting interviews with the various men who stood around, the one she was interviewing having executed another civilian to prove his point.

" **If you two have stopped bitching at each other, maybe figure out how to disarm and defeat these ten fools before any more people die."** Kurama was right, as much as he hated to think that a giant beast of sentient chakra was acting more humanitarian than he was at the moment.

"Look we'll argue later, right now, there are people who need help." turning to the manager's office, Naruto began looking for anything he could wear to conceal his identity.

"Naruto if you have no powers, how are you going to save anyone?" the male blond opened up a janitor's closet and smiled at what he saw.

"I'll make do, I'm a highly trained killer from another universe, after all."

* * *

"Look, lady, enough questions, it is time we spread the message of Kaguya-sama." Mary Jane was getting sick of placating these crazy bastards. They all talked about the same thing like they were in a hive mind, it was honestly annoying and made getting comments and asking questions even more stressful.

"I just have a few questions left, this will help spread the word of Kaguya like you want, especially after this show of force. People will want to know why." the journalist was internally screaming. Where the hell were the police, Spider-Man, Daredevil, ANYONE?

"{Who the hell is that?!}" one of the Demons said in Japanese, causing the entire group to turn to a man in black standing on top of the unconscious body of their outside guard.

"Who's next." the man wore a black hoodie and black fingerless gloves, with something wrapped around his hands and forearms in a style similar to Muay Thai ropes. Black sweatpants adorned his legs with a pair of white and black workout shoes finishing the look. The oddest thing was his face, as he had a black, bandanna type mask that covered the entire top half of his face. The Demons trained their guns on the man, but in a blink of an eye, he was already in front of one grunt, performing a grapple before knocking the man unconscious on the ground. Grabbing table knives and forks, the masked man threw them with pinpoint accuracy, knocking the weapons out of the hands of the Demons.

"You know what I hate?" the man was bearded, though it was more of a cherry blond rather than the bright blond of the only other beard wearing man MJ knew. He moved with pure efficiency, countering three men attacking him at once, smoothly transitioning to takedowns. He broke one of the downed men's arms, doing the same to the leg of another, before finally performing a falling punch to the skull of the last man who was attempting to get up.

"Bullies who think they can do whatever they want." the next few minutes were a blur, as the man in black began to decimate the rest of the Demons, not holding back as he assaulted them with his attacks. From hooks and jabs, to knees and kicks, the man didn't stop until there were none left standing. However, just as the threat was almost over, MJ saw a Demon reach for his pistol on the opposite side of the room, right behind the masked man.

"Behind you!" she yelled, though in the moment, it didn't even sound like her own voice. The man moved quickly, jumping behind and choking the would-be shooter. However he was still in reach of the weapon, and the masked man choked the Demon harder.

"Don't make me do this." the Demon didn't seem to care as he managed to grab hold of the handgun, his consciousness starting to fade. "I'm warning you, just put it down, now." the Demon still wasn't stopping, slowly raising the weapon in the direction of the woman who caught him. "Mary Jane…" the masked man mumbled to himself, seeming to watch in slow motion as the Demon began to put the redhead in his sights. Conflict was clear as day on his face, and even without eyes, MJ could see a decision being made. As the Demon's finger went toward the trigger, the masked man twisted the arm wrapped around the man's neck in a single swift motion and grunted, a sickening crack being heard before the Demon went limp in the vigilante's arms.

"You, you killed him." Mary Jane began to speak, her adrenaline and fear not allowing her to say anything more intelligent. An older woman, seemingly in her 60's, who had been gathered up with the rest of the surviving patrons stood up in indignation.

"Who do you think you are, young man! Judge, jury, and executioner? Aren't you superhero's supposed to have rules." the man in black just sat there, panting from exhaustion, before he stood to his full height, almost two heads taller than this woman. The bearded man looked at her and sneered.

"Do I look like Spider-Man to you?" without another word, the masked man walked out through the broken glass and disappeared into an alley. Gwen ran up behind Mary Jane and pulled her into a bear hug, the police arriving soon after the vigilante left.

"Jesus Christ, Mary Jane Watson, don't you dare do anything reckless like that again." MJ smiled into her friend's arms and finally let her body relax. She hadn't realized how tense she was when she began interacting with the Demons, let alone when the mystery man showed up.

"Everything worked out in the end, Gwen, where's Naruto? I didn't see him come out with you."

"Oh, his cell phone wasn't working so he told me he would run to the nearest police station to get some help, thank god they showed up in time, huh?" MJ bit her lip in thought about the man who saved her life.

"Thank God someone did…"

* * *

 **Evening - Upper East Side - Cindy Moon's Apartment Building**

Naruto stood in front of Cindy's door with trepidation throughout his body. After the fight at the coffee shop, the blond had come back around to retrieve his things and, shall we say, liberate a backpack, from the manager's office. He had quickly removed the mask from his face and the wraps from his hands on the way towards his destination. The impromptu costume did its job, he could understand why Matt chose something simple like that, but it just wasn't something permanent. The blond felt he needed something a bit sturdier.

'By the way, thank you for making my beard a darker color and allowing me to see through the cloth, I had completely forgotten about that part of the costume.'

" **It's what I'm here for, kit. Neither one of us benefits if your journalist of a friend figured out who you were."** Naruto frowned at his friend's words.

'She wouldn't do that Kurama, trust me.' Kurama didn't respond, choosing to stay silent, which only unnerved his container more. Either way, he had to stop a few places, including his apartment to see if Cid was there (which she wasn't, to his disappointment), on the way to get a present for his girlfriend. He was prepared to take the verbal beatdown she was bound to give, but he knew she would be happy to have him back. So why was he still standing outside of her door? 'No time like the present, right? But why do I feel like my spider-sense should be going off?' taking a deep breath, Naruto used his key and opened the door, smile as wide as it was large.

"HONEY I'M HOME! Heh, just kidding Cid, but I did want to say Merry early Christmas since it's around the cor...ner." the wrapped box dropped to the ground with an audible crack, the bright smile on Naruto's face slowly turning into one of horror. He leaned down to pick up a bra that was scattered across the couch. It was very much Cindy's, he had seen it enough times to know, the problem was the clear set of male clothing that accompanied it. A growl sounded out from the blond's throat, his blue eyes gaining a red hue.

" **Naruto, you're pulling my chakra at an exorbitant rate, you need to calm down, now! Your mind and body still aren't ready for the strain of so much power!"** Kurama's pleas went on deaf ears, as he followed a trail to the bathroom. He still remembered how they had spent their first morning in the very same room, Cindy whispering sweet nothings into his ear as she "cleaned" him. Kami, why was it always him. Slowly sliding open the door, just enough so he could see clearly, the blond's rage was replaced by a somber sadness, his eyes now completely red, unaware of the aura his body was giving off. He could feel the heat of the shower was, so entranced by each other that they didn't even close the glass shower door. He watched as she said the same things she would say to him, as she was **defiled** by the man he had helped save. Without his help, he wouldn't even be alive. The man would've been killed alongside his bastard of a father by Connors. The blond wanted him **dead** … no, that was the demon talking. The monster he became when he lost control. Naruto took one last look at the woman he loved, the pure euphoria he saw as she called out another man's name, and resigned to reality. Something fell from his hoodie pocket, but he didn't care. The blond walked outside and stared at the city around him, before he stepped off the railing, and fell towards the ground.

"Oh God Harry, right there!"

* * *

" **I get that you're hurt, but you could have solved that by NOT jumping off the building!"** the giant fox was frankly worried about his container. It was obvious that his mental state was even worse now, but the bijuu didn't think he would have taken to jumping off buildings. ' **I swear Naruto if you force me to make a giant, golden fox appear in the center of this city, Sage help me, I will.'** Kurama's thoughts were interrupted by a quick motion from his container, who had pulled up his sleeves to reveal his web-shooters. The blond hadn't removed them since Connor's death, and the fox was thankful he had them now. Naruto took careful aim, knowing that he had no spider-sense to help guide him, and shot out a web line.

He swung through the streets toward his new destination, though not as gracefully as he had done before. The blond had made an internal choice. Part of him had wanted to enjoy being free of his "curse of power". The thought of settling down with Cindy, loving her, maybe even starting something more, it kept him going. But now, he had nothing to lose. The day's events had just shown him that his city needed a defender, or rather, a group of them. A group not afraid to go head to head with the terrorists who had been plaguing his city for months. Arriving at his desired location, Naruto wasn't surprised to see the man still up and tinkering, even though the lab had closed hours ago. "Max. It's been a while." the stout man turned in his chair, a ginger beard perking up as he saw his guest.

"Naruto Uzumaki, it has indeed. You look like hammered shit…" Naruto smiled at the older man's humor, walking up to his seated friend.

"I know." Max laughed and stood up, slighter taller than the 6-foot blond, and pulled him into a hug.

"I like the beard. So, what have you come to me for on a night like this?" the blond decided not to mince words.

"Max, I need to tell you something. I'm actually…"

"Spider-Man?" the blond blinked, not expecting the quick response.

"How did you know?" this time, it was Modell who laughed, spinning in his chair.

"Every time you called me for business it was Spider-Man related, I couldn't fix your phone without you bringing up the wall-crawler. It was either you were Spider-Man, or you had a major crush on the guy." Naruto couldn't help but laugh at his friend's logic (which was reasonably sound, mind you) and took a seat on top of the desk he was working on.

"Well, that makes this a lot easier. But I hate to break it to you buddy, but I'm not Spider-Man anymore. I was wondering if you could run some tests on me to see what had happened." the former vigilante began to recount the fight with Connors, explaining everything he had done to make the gene cleanser and how ultimately, it was used against him. Max took multiple notes, before asking the blond if he could get a vial of blood for testing. One extraction later, the two men were left sitting in silence. "Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot." Naruto pulled open his backpack, happy he had remembered to grab it from his desk and showed Max the sketchbook. "Just because I don't have powers doesn't mean I won't be helping people, I need a suit." a wide smile spread across Max's face.

"I thought you'd never ask." Max grabbed a remote and pressed a button, content in seeing the look of amazement on his friend's face as countless tables with spider-themed costumes rose from the floor. "Most of them are prototypes, but we have a few good ones." Max gestured to three suits next to each other. One was a red and blue version of the suit he had made from scratch, with the red extending across the arms instead of stopping at his shoulders.

"That's a bit too flashy for me, besides, I don't need the classic spider motif right now." Max nodded as they moved to the next one. This one was red and black, however, was practically glorified knight armor, as it was heavily armored in all areas except the joints.

"I designed this mainly for its strength and protection. When I came up with it, my question to myself was, what would I need for the Ends of the Earth?"

"I like it, but as I said, I wanna keep a low profile like I'm not even... perfect." the blond immediately grabbed the last suit off the table and moved to change. Walking out was a man who looked like he belonged in the wrong decade. He wore black combat boots, his grey pants being bloused. A simple black dress belt held it all together below the waist. Above the belt, Naruto wore a gray turtleneck, with black motorcycle gloves on his hands. A high collar black vest adorned his chest, buttons going down on opposite sides, a small, black spider in the center of the back. To finish it off, a black mask with integrated goggles covered his face.

"Ahh, a personal favorite and one of the first I made. I think I had just finished watching Angels with Filthy Souls for the 5th time and came up with that."

"I like it, Max," Naruto took off the mask and smiled. "Though I may have to make some adjustments. What do you call this one?"

"This one was simple. I call it, Spider-Man: Noir!"

* * *

At the same time, a man and a woman stepped out of their shared shower together, seemingly not being able to keep their hands off of each other. "Harry, can you go close the balcony door? I don't remember leaving it open but you were the last one out there," said man kissed his partner and did what she asked, the Korean woman left staring at her naked lover walk his "sexy-ass" to the door. She was so absorbed by it that she didn't even notice the card she had stepped on. Tilting her head in confusion she opened the card before her hand flew to her mouth in shock. She dropped the sentimental note where she stood and ran over to the door, only to notice the present on the floor. Opening the gift just as quickly, Cindy let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding, doing her best to not cry. Inside was a glass heart, with one side having Naruto's name on it and the other with her own. The center contained the phrase "Trust, Love, and Care". Words that now had a massive crack running through them due to the gift being dropped. Harry walked over to his lover and saw her distraught look.

"Something wrong, babe?" Cindy just nodded, regret laced in her voice.

"I fucked up, Harry."

 **AN: Cindy's ways have caught up to her, Naruto sees his friends again, MJ and Gwen are left to pick up the pieces. I really hope you like this one, I put a lot of love into picking up where that 11,000-word chapter left off. I hope I did you all justice. To clarify the three outfits Naruto wore this chapter, the first was pretty much Red Hood without the mask. The second was Daredevil's "Man Without Fear" outfit with his Muay Thai ropes (made from a mop) from season 3 of the Netflix show. The last was the most obvious as Spider-Man Noir. Once again I thank you all for reading, and please, please review! I respond to every single one and answer any and all questions. Oh, and if you're interested in any of my other work always check out my other stories, I've been writing a lot this week. I love you all!**


	10. The Defenders

**Wow, I started this chapter before I joined up and now I'm finishing it months later, I'm sorry about the wait everyone but I'm ready to keep rocking and rolling. Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! Over 300 follows and favorites, and over 100 reviews! It's not crazy numbers like others, but for a guy in a subgenre that isn't the most popular, I love the support! So I hope all of you enjoy this chapter, she's a long one!**

"She gets no sympathy from me, MJ." Gwen Stacy began, crossing her arms and glaring at the wall of her friend's apartment. It had been a week or so since Naruto had come back, and school was coming around the corner with full force. Mary Jane had initially invited the blonde over for a pre-semester study date, but it soon turned into a battle of wills as a certain someone was brought up. Mary Jane sighed at what seemed to be the 10th time they'd had this talk. The issue on the table? Cindy Moon, former girlfriend and lover of one Naruto Uzumaki, who was now the intimate partner of one Harry Osborn. It was during the third week of Naruto's absence that the redhead had noticed something off about Cindy. Up until then, the black-haired beauty would constantly ask Gwen and Miss Watson about the whereabouts of her boyfriend, seeming to grow more and more distraught and distant by the day. Even with MJ confirming that he was still up and kicking due to the photos he sent into the Bugle, Cindy simply couldn't handle the stress. Soon after, Harry Osborn, a man who MJ was more than willing to spend her time with, broke up with her. His reasoning was pretty stupid, as he had claimed she was too "focused on a missing man, rather than the one she already had", but MJ had been broken and the heartbreaker enough times to ignore it. If he didn't want to be with her, especially when MJ had come close to letting him take her to bed, it wasn't her problem.

Cindy talked to the two of them less and less after that, not that MJ had truly thought much of it. Gwen and Naruto were the only ones she was truly close to. Johnny and Bobby, aside from wanting to ask her out at first, were mostly friends by association. When Harry broke up with her, Gwen was the only one she had, and when Cindy got distant, she was there for Gwen. The two women hit it off quickly, doing nearly everything together. From hair products to fashion, and up until now, trying to find the whereabouts of their now single blond friend.

Finding out about that one hurt, though it hadn't hurt MJ as much as it made Gwen furious. And here MJ thought that finding your ex-boyfriend dry humping the girl _you_ had introduced him to would make her mad. The blonde was a woman scorned, and she had to hold Gwen back as she shouted profanities at the duo. Cindy had all but ignored their complaints, 'That was such a bad night.' the redhead began to think back.

* * *

 _Mary Jane smiled as she and Gwen made their way up to Cindy's apartment. The two women had been doing their best to stay positive amid their favorite blond friend disappearing. With Connors being dead and revealed as the feral Lizard monster that had attacked Oscorp, many people were wary of those who had been under his tutelage. Thankfully, being friends with the daughter of the police commissioner took some of the pressure off. Both MJ and Gwen had noticed how the third member of their little "Naruto Appreciation Club" had been pulling away, so the three had all agreed to have a little girls night in Cindy's Penthouse._

" _What're you smiling for Red?" Gwen asked her, seeing the small smile MJ had inside the elevator._

" _I dunno Gwen, I'm just happy to be spending a night with you girls rather than alone thinking about Naru. As much as I miss him, a girl needs an emotional break." both of them laughed as the elevator door opened up. Walking to the door MJ knocked before seeing the door was unlocked. "Hellooo? Anybody home?" the journalist yelled out as the two began looking around the seemingly empty suite._

" _You know Cid, as a cop's daughter, I majorly disapprove of you leaving your door unlocked. What would Naruto think of…you have got to be shitting me." hearing the change of tone, MJ ran to where Gwen was and had to hold back her shout of surprise. The redhead blinked to make sure she wasn't going insane. I mean, what else could explain Harry Osborn, her ex-boyfriend, standing nut-to-butt with Cindy Moon, current girlfriend of Naruto Uzumaki, clearly flirting as Cindy stood over the stove, seemingly without a care in the world, making food._

" _Harry stop, you're gonna make me spill the soup," Cindy told him, though the mirth in her voice told the two other women there was no force behind it. Mary Jane knew all too well that Cindy was enjoying her current situation._

" _Um, are we interrupting something?" the redhead slowly stated, gaining their attention._

" _Oh hey, girls! I wasn't expecting you until later so the food isn't done yet." the black-haired beauty smiled as she continued cooking, Harry seemingly unaware of their presence and continuing to poke at Cindy's sides. MJ loudly cleared her throat, taking no pleasure in seeing her ex continue to flirt with her friend._

" _Hey there ladies, you both look splendid as usual." Harry tried to give a charming smile but was disappointed to only receive looks of annoyance and disgust in return. Mary Jane Watson looked at the situation with conflict, debating with herself on how she should approach this situation. On the one hand, she could try to ignore the obvious breach of trust and attempt to have a peaceful evening with her friends… and ex-boyfriend. On the other hand, she could take the situation to heart and go on an emotionally fueled tirade questioning how Cindy could be so callous and ignorant considering her boyfriend was still MIA and she was messing with_ _ **Harry Osborn**_ _of all people. Just as the journalist/model was deciding what to do, her blonde partner in crime had already gone through her own mental decision making. Gwen, barely containing the clear rage that was threatening to burn, felt her nails start to pierce her palms from how tight her fists were._

" _Cindy Moon, what the_ _ **fuck**_ _are you doing?" pure venom seeped from her voice, her icy blue eyes narrowed and focused on the Korean woman._

" _Um, making dinner, having a good time, waiting for you two. Why so grumpy, Gwenny?" the blonde looked over to the countertop, frowning at the two empty glasses and a half-empty bottle of wine sitting there. The blonde's frown deepened as she soon realized that her friend was under the influence. Gwen's anger simmered down, only slightly, but crossed her arms over her chest demanding answers._

" _How about why is he here," the blond jabbed a manicured finger in Harry's direction, "All three of us agreed on a girls night, not 3 girls, one asshole." Harry objected with a 'Hey', but Stacy ignored him, choosing to focus on the lack of emotion in her friend's face._

" _Well, I saw Harry around Midtown today and he invited me out for a coffee in exchange for another interview since the last one went over so… well." nobody said a word, the entire kitchen reflecting on that night, the last time any of them had seen Naruto. "Anyway, we've just been hanging out since this afternoon and he offered to drive me home. I invited him in as a thank you and we've been here ever since. Are you done interrogating me, officer?" Cindy glared into Gwen's judging eyes, clearly not liking the line of questioning their conversation was headed._

" _You can't act like we didn't just witness you two practically get busy on the countertop, and Harry's too inebriated to drive, and if he did I would have to report it." Gwen glared at the Osborn, who was doing his best to sink into a corner, before continuing. "Aren't you supposed to be, oh I don't know, in a relationship." as the words left her mouth Gwen was surprised at the look of anger that quickly consumed Cindy's facade._

" _You're one to talk, Stacy. Acting like you haven't been trying to steal him for yourself since the day he met me! Face it blondie, you couldn't handle the fact that he loves_ _ **me**_ _. Not you!" Cindy glared and then rolled her eyes, turning away from the blonde. "He told me everything, the man is in love with me to the core. He trusts me, Gwenny, more than you'll ever know." Cindy finished with narrowed eyes before crossing her arms in defiance, letting out a breath from the pent up rage she had. Gwen's neutral face gained a small smirk. The blonde walked up to her friend, the two women staring each other down before leaning into the Korean's ear with a whisper,_

" _You think you're special because you know his secret, that he's Spider-Man? He never told you, never told you that for weeks we've been working the Demon case together, that he trusts_ _ **me**_ _with his_ _ **life**_ _. Could you say the same? That he trusts you when he's Spider-Man just as much as when he's Naruto Uzumaki? Did he even tell you about his life_ _ **before**_ _he got to New York? In my eyes, you'll never measure up, Cid, because he didn't trust you enough to tell you about me." the blonde picked up her purse and walked out of the kitchen. "I'll be waiting downstairs, MJ." she called before the door slammed shut._

 _Mary Jane and Cindy stared at each other, both shocked at Gwen's behavior. Cindy looked into MJ's emerald eyes, and let out a frustrated breath. "Both of you are so concerned about doing things for Naruto but what has he done for us, what has he done for me, Mary Jane! Three whole God damned weeks, I wait for him! Sometimes I would just sit in his room for days, wondering if he was just avoiding us. Still nothing! Not a text, not an email, not a phone call, not so much as a damn peep from him. The only reason we know he's even alive is because you work at the Bugle. If he loved me so damn much then why do I feel like he broke up with me all over again? Why is it that I'm just supposed to sit and wait? Well, I'm done waiting for him, MJ. I'm done playing his stupid games. He thinks he's some hero out there, that he can come back whenever he wants and things will be the same. They aren't the same anymore, and at the end of the day, he's just as selfish as everyone else." tears had begun to stream down her face, black eyeliner mixing with the salty liquid. The older woman sighed, took another shaky breath, and began to clean up her kitchen. "You're free to leave MJ. I won't make you stay here. And I'm sorry about Harry. But there's no point in looking for someone who doesn't want to be found." The black-haired woman finished cleaning up her mess, a bowl of soup in hand, and walked out of the kitchen towards her bedroom. Harry's alcohol-fueled lust followed her out the door, but his pursuit was halted by a heated glare coming from his ex._

" _I don't care if you go home, but you're not staying here, Harry. It's not up for discussion, I won't let you take advantage of her." the brunette nodded, not willing to get on an even worse side of his ex, before gathering his things and walking out the apartment door. MJ waited for him to make his way before following his steps, closing the door behind her and making her way down to the lobby. Gwen was waiting, eyes glued to her phone and smiled as a tuft of red hair appeared in her view. MJ smiled back, sitting next to her friend in the silence of the lobby._

" _... I'm sorry I exploded in there, MJ. I just, I know he still loves her and it hurts to see her take advantage of him like that, especially with Harry of all people. I know he wouldn't do that to her." Mary Jane nodded at her friend's words and gave an understanding look._

" _Don't justify yourself to me, girlfriend. You're in the right on this one. But we both know not all of it was in defense of him, you love him more than anyone." Gwen nodded and shuddered as tears began to fall from her eyes._

" _I just miss him MJ, so much. What if something happened to him?" Mary Jane smiled and held her friend confidently._

" _Then we'll be there for him like we always have."_

* * *

A few days later the duo would run into their former friend again, this time witnessing her heatedly making out with said ex-boyfriend in the school library. Gwen's hand had hovered over her concealed pistol before MJ decided to be the bigger woman (something she never did, ever) and stop her blonde friend from 1st-degree murder. The two had (begrudgingly) decided to focus on more important things, choosing to ignore their former friend and her escapades. Gwen simmered down after a few days of not having to deal with the black-haired woman, and MJ had thought things would shift back to the status quo soon enough. But Naruto's sudden appearance days before Christmas made things much more complicated. Which was why the two women had decided to discuss their new dilemma.

"I'm not saying she deserves any sympathy, Gwen, but I'm telling you she has a _somewhat_ sound reason. We should at least tell her that Naru is back so they can officially end things." Gwen rolled her eyes at the redhead playing devil's advocate but couldn't ignore the logic in it. The curly blonde sighed and let the heat of the topic settle down.

"You're right Mary Jane, but who's to say Naruto hasn't done that already? I mean have you talked to him since that coffee shop incident?" Mary Jane felt a chill run down her spine at the mention of the attack and her ballsy maneuver to stall for time. Though she didn't show it, watching that Demon execute someone right in front of her had been burned into her mind since. If that man in the mask hadn't saved her then she didn't know what could've happened. She pushed through those thoughts to think about her now bearded blond friend.

"I've talked to him here and there, mostly texts and passing him in the office. But now that you mention it…" the redhead looked at her phone which had been blowing up the past few days from a certain Korean woman, " I think he already knows." Gwen sighed again and began to look at her notes for Literature.

"Do you think we'll see him tomorrow?" Mary Jane asked, both women having shifted back to their study date.

"I hope so MJ, I hope so."

* * *

" **You do know you have the start of the next semester in the morning?"** Naruto rolled his eyes as he sparred with Matt. The two were wearing nothing but boxer shorts, circling each other in the ring.

'Since when did you start caring about stuff that wasn't me beating people up or getting myself killed?' Kurama scoffed and rolled his eyes inside the blond's head.

" **While your petty mortal academics interest me little, I know you find the act of being normal comforting and you care about your life here. Besides, it's much easier to mate with females if you see and interact with them every day."** the blond shinobi could feel the grin on Kurama's muzzled face and couldn't help but let a matching one grace his own.

'You're crazy, you stupid fox. Ever wonder why I've been keeping my distance?' Naruto parried a jab from Matthew, deciding now to go on the offensive. The shinobi threw two jabs, both blocked by the blind vigilante, before sending a knee into Matt's unprotected abdomen. The red-headed lawyer coughed up spit at the blond's superior strength before gaining his bearing and attempting a sweep kick on his opponent. Out of pure instinct, Naruto jumped over the leg, attaching himself to the ceiling with his chakra. Matthew noticed the lack of a presence in front of him and tilted his head towards the ceiling.

"Can we call this a draw?" the redhead quipped, smiling up at his roommate and friend. Naruto chuckled and dropped back into the ring. The two had been doing this for the past week, going into Fogwell's Gym after-hours to train. Naruto had come to Matt in hopes of improving his hand to hand skills. The blond had become all too reliant on his ability to overpower anyone he fought, and his growing number of scars showed that. He and Matt were similarly trained, and though the blind man didn't know everything about his blond friend, the lawyer could tell they both had Eastern influences in their fighting styles and agreed to help as much as he could. "I thought we agreed on not using that chakra of yours this time?" Matthew asked as the two began to cool down. Chakras and chi were things that Matt knew about, but he had never seen either used in the way the blond used his.

"Sorry, I moved on instinct. Besides, you wouldn't have swept me anyway." Matt rolled his eyes and punched Naruto in the shoulder.

"So, have you decided on getting back to being a hero?" Naruto sighed and looked at the bustling crowds outside the window.

"I don't know, to be honest. I can't be Spider-Man anymore, but people still need help. You know me well enough to know I can't sit by with people in need."

"Then get back in the costume, from what you've told me of the abilities you have, no one would know the difference." the blond shook his head and looked at his hands, reflecting on how different they felt without his powers. He still missed the ever-present sensation in his mind from his spider-sense.

"I would know, Matt. Spider-Man isn't enough anymore. The Demons are causing havoc throughout the city, and that's allowing the underbelly of crime to go unnoticed by the police. Let the NYPD fight their war with Negative's foot soldiers, someone needs to protect the people still on the ground." Naruto stood up and pulled out a black mask from his duffel bag. "We don't need superheroes, Matt, we need people who are willing to take the fight to the enemy."

 **The Next Day - Empire State University**

Ice and snow still caked the ground and buildings, but students of ESU didn't seem to notice or mind, going about their first day of classes with enthusiasm. Many were happy to see their friends again, others ready to get back to the grind of school. Two women, in particular, were wary of the days to come as they searched for a familiar head of blond hair.

"The lecture starts in 5 minutes, I don't think he'll make it here Gwen…"

"MJ, I texted him this morning reminding him about class and he read it." Gwen shoved her phone in the redhead's face, showing the clear read receipt under the text. Mary Jane sighed and checked her phone again.

"He's not gonna make it, you know how Ms. Gorbachev gets about trying to come in once the door is closed." almost on cue, the professor glanced at the clock and moved to close the door. However, a tan hiking shoe in the doorway stopped her from finishing the job.

"Sorry about that, Ms. G, the subways are always a pain in the morning." a muffled voice said as the Ukrainian woman opened the door.

"Well, just don't let it happen again mister…" the professor examined the taller man, doing her best to decipher who he was. The stranger was half a foot taller than her, with icy blue eyes that stared into her soul. He wore a black leather jacket that seemingly clung to his body, a black face mask covering the lower half of his face up to his nose with a black watch cap covering the top of his head. Black gloves adorned his hands and he finished the outfit with a pair of tan, SWAT-style pants. Black and tan hiking shoes were still slick with snow as a wet spot started to form on her carpet.

"Aw can you not tell it's me Ms. G?" a gloved hand removed the face mask and a familiar grin revealed itself. "You hurt me, moy Uchitel' (my teacher)"

The older woman had the decency to blush, "My apologies Mr. Uzumaki, just go take your seat." the bearded man smiled and made his way to his two female friends seated towards the center of the lecture hall, ignoring stares and whispers from his classmates. The blond chuckled at the looks the girls gave him as he sat down and removed his winter clothes, revealing an orange and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize me too, I just saw you last week." Gwen shook out of her surprise first and smiled at her fellow blond.

"We recognize you, even with your lumberjack cosplay, we were just making bets on if you would show up or not." Naruto nodded and relaxed in his seat,

"I told you guys, my absence was on me. I promise, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." the two stared at each other, a mix of relief and their last conversation seemingly on both of their minds.

"Well I don't mind your new look, tiger, you're thawing my frozen heart already." MJ flirted, ignoring the narrowed eyes of her best friend. Naruto chuckled and met the redhead's emerald gaze with a wink.

"Don't worry Red, I'm warmer up close." Gwen cleared her throat, clearly annoyed by the obvious and cheesy flirting her two friends seemed to partake in. Both parties laughed at Gwen's antics.

"You know we're just teasing, Gwen."

Naruto moved his hand on top of Gwen's, confident in what his next actions would be. The platinum blonde raised her eyebrow at the action, but couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine. "How about after class, you and I go and get something to eat. My treat." the cop-daughter couldn't control the blush that formed on her cheeks but also felt invigorated by the invitation. She took his hand into hers, noticing how different they felt from the last time she had held it, the night he told her everything. She was the only one who knew everything about him, his past and present. Naruto decided it was about time he started looking at what was in front of him instead of behind him.

'Spider-Man may be gone, Cindy may have left me, but I'm still Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuriki and shinobi of Konohagakure. And I'll keep fighting for the ones I care about.

* * *

Night had befallen New York City once again, and almost everyone had secluded inside to get out of the harsh winter air. Well, almost everyone. A man in black tactical gear checked the chamber of his suppressed semi-automatic rifle before he laid down on his rooftop perch. He wore black gloves with the first two fingers cut out on both hands as well as a black watch cap on his head. Under his black overcoat was a matching black assault vest filled to the brim with magazines, a white skull spray-painted on the chest. The sniper breathed in and out, doing his best to steady his breathing in the cold weather. "Breathe in, breathe out, adjust, adjust-" the sniper said to himself as he seemingly found his targets. He did his best not to finger the trigger, but seeing the very obvious drug and weapon trade going on, at the docks nonetheless, angered him to no end. It looked like the local gangs had decided to begin trade with the Demon's who had popped up.

The masked men seemed to be able to get their hands on more military-grade gear than most. "Scum of the earth…" he muttered, switching his rifle from safe to semi. He would take out as many from the rooftop as he could before he went down to finish the job. A small rappelling rope was on the corner of the building for a quick descent. The sniper decided on his first target, the head Demon who was negotiating with the crew leader who he was buying from. The black-clad man let his index finger fall on the trigger, breathing long and slow to find his sweet spot. "Slow steady squeeze… bang." the man pulled the trigger and couldn't hide the smile on his face as the .308 round tore through the Demon's sternum, putting a quarter-sized hole in the man's chest, and passing through to the solid ground below them. Silence rang as the surrounding men looked on in shock. The temporary pause was just what the sniper wanted, taking the opportunity to drop three more men in quick succession. The thugs regained their bearing and immediately took defensive positions. The man's smile turned into a wide grin, "Now this is a gunfight." he said to himself, ignoring the normal and energy laced rounds coming flying in his direction. He found another target and fired again, satisfied by the shriek of pain as the man felt his life end.

Moving to another target, the sniper was surprised to see a black-clad unknown seemingly appear out of nowhere, fighting the Demon's and gangsters with hand to hand. The man took a moment to readjust and figure out his next move. On one hand, he could let the vigilante fight out his battle, relocate, and destroy the shipment before the police came. Or, kill two birds with one stone and fight alongside the assumed hero. "Hope he's a better sport than Red was, be a shame to waste good talent." the sniper took up his position again and began to provide overwatch security for the hero. The hero was ten times more brutal than the other vigilante the sniper had dealt with, beating the men savagely, using their knives and weapons against them. The sniper almost did a double-take as he watched the vigilante vanish in a puff of smoke in response to enemy gunfire, only to reappear behind the two Demons and slam them into the pavement face first, slamming both their skulls into the cement hard enough that the sniper could swear he heard more than just their masks crack.

A thug took the opportunity to aim his submachine gun at his attacker's back, his plan, however, was interrupted by a bullet tearing through the man's stomach, a scream of terror sounding out before a second-round pierced his chest. The black-clad man vigilante looked to where the sniper was and nodded in appreciation, a gesture the sniper reciprocated before dispatching more men. In minutes, there were only bodies scattered around the docks, the drugs, guns, and money untouched. The sniper sighed and began to break down his rifle before he heard a sound come from the rappel side of his rooftop. The vigilante was met by said rifle being pointed at his head.

The sniper took in his guest, trying to see if they had crossed paths before. He was wearing a black mask with goggles sewn in, a hood over his head, and black and gray tactical pants. The man's pants were bloused, showing off his black combat-style boots. He wore a sleeveless vest, and the sniper could tell there was a decent amount of reinforcement there, with a black and gray turtleneck under the vest with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. At the elbows, the man had taken to wrapping his arms in black hand wraps that went up to his fingerless motorcycle gloves.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight, Castle." Frank raised an eyebrow and switched his rifle to safe, but continued to aim at his chest. "Don't be so surprised, you've been tearing through Demons like no tomorrow. While the news doesn't say it, there's only one man I know who can cause damage in such an efficient way. Once upon a time I would've been appalled by your ruthlessness, but things change." the man in black put his hand out as a show of good faith. "People change, I want your help, Mr. Castle. We need to protect our city." Frank debated on what to do, but soon lowered his weapon and took the man's hand.

"I don't even know who you are kid, but if you're willing to do what it takes, take the fight to the enemy. I'm more than willing to listen." the man in black nodded and noticed Punisher's setup. There seemed to be some time of M4 variant on the ground, with boxes of ammo as well as a grenade launcher under-barrel attachment. There were a few pistols as well as a submachine gun or two, which the man in black assumed to be backups for his backups.

'Ugh, even with Gwen's help I don't think I'll ever understand firearms.' the man thought to himself before turning his attention to Frank. "I'm putting together a team, people who are willing to fight for the little guy, those who are willing to cut off the head of the snake and finish this mess." Frank rolled his eyes and began to pack up his gear.

"Don't know if you noticed, but I'm more of a solo act." the man in black nodded but picked up a weapon and passed it to Frank.

"I know, so was I. But some things are bigger than us now. We're fighting men who can shoot energy waves from their hands, summon whips at will, and even have energy katanas." the man in black raised his arm and Frank was startled by the blue sphere that appeared in his right hand. "We need to fight fire with fire."

Frank looked at the man and relented, "You got a card or something?" the vigilante pulled a burner phone from his pocket and placed it in Frank's outstretched hand.

"I'll call you when I need you, or if you need me. You're not fighting this war alone anymore, Marine." Castle had the decency to nod and put the phone in one of his cargo pockets.

"Last thing before I turn my back and you disappear. Don't you hero types usually have a name?" the man in black looked at him and seemed to smirk under his mask.

"Call me Arashi," he turned and faced the city skyline, "And trust me, I'm no hero." Frank watched as in a flash of white light, Arashi was gone. Frank whistled before continuing to pack up his gear.

"I knew he was a fucking ninja-"

* * *

" **Are you sure recruiting that man was a bright idea kit? He reminds me of an Anbu nin."** Naruto nodded to himself as he ran across the side of a skyscraper. The ninja extended his hand to shoot a web line, using it to propel himself over the space separating the different buildings. Naruto had come to compromise with himself on his web-shooters. They were too useful not to have, but he couldn't web swing as reliably as he could before, and doing so would have more to believe he was Spider-Man. No, he was something much greater than the webhead could ever be. Spider-Man represented the naive boy in a world he didn't understand. The blond had lost his powers, but he was first and foremost a shinobi. He had been given the abilities of the Sage of Six Paths, and though he wasn't 100% yet, he was still a master of ninjutsu who would do anything to protect the ones he loved, no matter the cost.

"We need a man like him, Kurama. We did our research on him, to be honest, there's no one else who would know how to work with us better than he would. Matt may have a problem with killing, but I'll keep them both on their leashes. Power Man seemed to be indifferent, though I can tell he's a big softy on the inside." after his amazing lunch with Gwen Stacy (which he never knew why he didn't do it sooner) ended, the partners had decided to begin recruiting to their little team. Their first stop was a man named Luke Cage, otherwise known as Power Man by his little community. Naruto had decided that a man who didn't hide his identity should be approached in kind. So that's exactly what he did.

 _ **Earlier That Day**_

 _The blond walked into the barbershop and whistled. Of all places in New York, Naruto had to say Harlem had the most soul. He loved every time he visited the neighborhood. "Can I help you?" a tall and wide black man spoke up. The two were alone in the shop and Naruto could only see how he got the name, Power Man. He was easily 6'6" and the blond could feel the floor bend to his weight. He looked like he spent every day in the gym, with a bald head and goatee to boot._

" _I see why they call you Power Man. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'd like you to join my team of super-powered individuals-" the blond was interrupted with a hearty laugh from the bigger man._

" _Man, you're the 10th guy in the past week to come at me with that super-powered bull. Listen, I'm not interested in beating up any little punks for you. I could crush you where you stand blondie, you sure you want to keep on this path?" Naruto sighed and decided on plan B, quickly webbing a nearby trash can and throwing it at Power Man at blazing speeds. As expected, the black gentleman wasn't ready for such fast movement and blinked as the trash can flattened against his chest. What he wasn't expecting, however, was the dull ache he felt on his skin from the sheer force. Picking up the flattened piece of metal, Power Man tensed his muscles for a fight before he saw the web line attached. "Wait you're…" the blond smiled and nodded as the black man put the puzzle pieces together._

" _I'll start over, sorry about the trash can by the way but I had to prove a point. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, otherwise known as Spider-Man. I admire what you're doing here in Harlem, and I want your help in getting rid of this recent terrorism group that has affected our city." the blond took one of his hands out of his jacket, extending it for a handshake. "And you are?" the bigger man took a moment to process the info, a small turmoil in his eyes before he met the blond's hand with his own._

" _Name's Luke Cage, otherwise known as Power Man. You got my attention."_

* * *

 **Present Time**

Cage had thankfully accepted the burner phone. "Those things weren't the cheap kind either." the masked blond said to himself as he stood atop a building overlooking a warehouse. He had rechecked the map of Demon bases the police had on file and this one looked like the best candidate to conduct reconnaissance. The police we're looking at this one anytime soon, giving the blond a perfect chance to let off some steam. Arashi sat on the edge of the building, doing his best to sense threats in the building. Matthew, as well as Kurama, had been teaching Naruto as much about using his senses as they could. The blond didn't realize how rusty he had gotten at doing it the old fashioned way because of how much he relied on his spider-sense. Chakra sensing was a skill that was slightly easier but still a struggle.

" **You're getting better at using chakra again. You formed that Rasengan earlier in about 3 seconds, better than your last attempt of 5. Your fastest time back home was in 0.2 of a second."**

'Yeah well, all I need is some more practice.' the blond perked up as he felt multiple life signatures inside the warehouse. 'And I know the perfect punching bags.' Arashi swan dived off the taller building, landing softly on the roof of the Demon compound. He prepped a smoke grenade in his hand, opening the skylight and seeing the unaware targets. He could take down as many as he could with the element of surprise before he felt a large presence gathering at the entry point of the building. "Damn it, perfect timing NYPD, as always."

* * *

Sergeant Kyle Garrick had been a fine soldier in the British Army, tours of duty all around the world, he joined the SAS, got out due to an injury, and moved to the US. What better use was of a person of his skill set than the police force? Making SWAT was easier than almost any school that the combat veteran had been through, but it still had its challenges. The dark-skinned man loaded a magazine into his rifle, the SWAT truck having stopped seconds prior. Normally, it would be time for him to get up and prep the team for the raid, however, tonight was different. Captain Jessica Jones, donned in a SWAT plate carrier and her service pistol on her hip, was doing get best to rally the troops. The Captain looked calm and collected, though the Sergeant could see her nervousness in the subtle twitch of her fingers. Garrick felt bad for the lass, a head of police didn't need to be out on a simple raid, but the department was stretched thin and the unit's commanding officer had been injured, so the job fell to her.

"Sergeant, take charge of your men, you breach on my go." the Sergeant nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. You heard her lads, let's make this quick, silent, and deadly, aye?" the men gave various chants of approval and dismounted from the vehicle. They formed up on various doorways, breaching charges in place to blast, bang, and clear. Sergeant Garrick looked to Captain Jones and she nodded, giving the order over their radios. Garrick looked over to his partner, Corporal Griggs and couldn't help but smile under his mask as the Corporal pulled a shotgun from his back.

"I like to keep this one for close encounters, Sarge."

"Too right, mate"

* * *

"God damn it, we need fucking backup, it's a slaughter in here!" Sergeant Garrick was not a happy camper at the moment. All their intel on the place was off. 10-15 guys with nothing but melee weapons? Try 30-45 armed and trained Demons with assault rifles and a mounted turret. What made it worse was the fact that Captain Jones was in the shit with them. The assault started standard, they had taken them by surprise too, but it all turned bad very fast. The first few officers were hit, nothing too serious, then they revealed they had set up traps and explosives and Garrick's numbers had been dwindling. His unit of 24 operators was now reduced to around 10-12. With only 5 not being seriously injured. The rest were either dead or unconscious. The Captain had joined him inside only to realize the gravity of their current situation.

"Captain, stay down, we can't lose you too!" Jessica looked back at her Sergeant, silently cursing herself for not just staying a detective and choosing to move up.

"Don't worry about me, Sergeant, get your men to safety!" Garrick looked back at the younger woman like she had a third eye.

"It's not a bloody recommendation, Jones! I don't need you-"

"I recommend you listen to the Sergeant, Captain." both parties were startled by the third voice that butted in. A black-clad man was leaning against a steel beam, seemingly unfazed by the hail of gunfire.

"Who the hell are you mate?" the man in black looked at the Sergeant and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Your only backup. Now get your men to safety, please, Sergeant." the darker-skinned man wanted to protest, but he could look at his fellow officers and relented to retreat. The man in black turned to Captain Jones and gestured towards the exit. "Follow his lead and get out. The city still needs you, Captain." Jessica narrowed her eyes, recognizing that voice. He seemed taller now, but his stance and the way he said her rank caused Jessica to grip her pistol tighter.

"You're one to talk aren't you, Spider-Man. You've been gone for weeks, ever since that Lizard fiasco no one has seen a glimpse of you. I told you to take a break from the Demons, not leave the city out to dry. Are you playing dress-up now?" Arashi narrowed his eyes behind his mask, but he couldn't cover it up now. He ignored the insult and blamed it on the situation.

"I go by Arashi now, and I'm sorry about my absence, but right now, you're no use against these guys. If you get hurt, the Demons get a morale boost and the department is one step closer to losing this war. We need you alive, Jess." Naruto watched as the woman had an inner debate. Almost as if she wanted to tell him something, however, she quickly started helping the able-bodied SWAT personnel collect their dead and wounded. Seeing her walk away, Naruto tightened his fists. 'Men are dead because of them, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons… Kurama?'

' **I understand, Naruto. Do what you must, kit, show them our power...'**

The shinobi vanished, teeth barred under his mask. He flew towards the Demon on the mounted gun, pinning him to the ground with a flying kick before snapping said man's neck with his foot. "{You call yourself demons?}" Naruto gained the group's attention, the men shocked to hear their language coming from the enemy. There were about 20 of them left. Seeing the unmoving bodies of the SWAT officers Naruto let his rage flow, directing it at the men below him. Arashi ripped off the bottom half of his mask, a cherry blond beard with fangs waiting under it. His eyes glowed a golden red under his goggles.

"{You don't know the meaning of the word-}" as the words left his mouth, Arashi had already shoved a golden Rasengan into the head of the biggest Demon there, letting his comrades look on in horror as the chakra based attack left the man's head a bloody, swirled mess. Arashi jumped into the air before performing a flurry of quick hand seals. The Demons began to open fire, but it was too late, Arashi having already prepped a jutsu for the remaining men. " **Fire Style: Enteral Flame Bullets"** the blond shot out a volley of supercharged fireballs, raining hell down onto the men. The few men left ran in retreat but were shocked to find the hooded shinobi in front of them.

Naruto decided that the cowards should die a quick death, simply gutting one with his claws before grabbing the man's pistol and shooting another one in the head. He finished by grabbing the third man and kicked him with all his strength square in the chest, slightly satisfied by the cracks he heard as the man's ribs splintered apart and punctured his lungs and heart. Sergeant Garrick walked back in and had to gall at the destruction. Jessica could only stare in shock at what had been done.

'Could he do all this since the beginning?' she asked herself. Garrick noticed that many of the men were still on fire and raised his rifle to put them out of their misery, but was stopped as Arashi raised his hand.

"Let 'em burn." Sergeant Garrick nodded, secretly taking pleasure in watching the men suffer. No one said a word as the remaining Demon's burned to death, small screams of agony and whimpers being the only sound. Arashi breathed out a sigh he didn't know he was holding before he sensed another presence from inside the compound. A loud explosion sounded, and Naruto immediately realized that the last of the traps had activated, the Demon's having made a failsafe to destroy the place if anything happened. "Sergeant! You and the Captain get your men to safety -" Arashi was interrupted by a scream from Jessica, a pile of debris from the ceiling having been destroyed and fallen on top of her.

"Jessica!"

"Captain!" the men yelled out at the same time. Naruto ran through the chances of her survival in his head but was determined to not leave her behind.

"Go, Sergeant, NOW!" the office left with a shaky nod, watching as Arashi ran over to the pile of rubble to do his best to get the Captain back. "C'mon Jess, not now, not you." Naruto talked to himself in hopes of calming his beating heart but it only made things worse. The shinobi moved as much as he could, but there was simply too much. He could feel no movement under the pile and rested his head in defeat. "Not again…" the blond said to himself, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. However, the rubble shifting stopped the vigilante in his tracks. Naruto watched as Jessica Jones lifted the tons of rubble off of her and tossed the pile behind her. The blond was amazed as the black-haired beauty huffed in annoyance, looking at her torn clothes and ruined weapon.

"Dropped a fucking roof on me, fucking bastards." the woman spit out, clearly exhausted by the act. She looked over to the hooded man, noting the fact that he had a beard, something that was new, and his gaping expression at her. The older woman rolled her eyes, not ready to deal with the questions, and walked out of the rubble pile, pushing a stray hair from her face. "You're not the only freak in town, webhead."

 **Hours Later - Jessica Jones' Apartment**

Naruto had let Jessica and her men report back to the station, saying a prayer to the fallen officers that had been killed. Following her back to the station and then back to her apartment, Naruto was surprised to see she was seemingly waiting for him at her desk, taking the periodic drink from her flask. He climbed in through the window and she turned to meet him.

"For a guy dressed as a ninja, you sure are bad at tailing without getting caught. I'm not calling you that stupid name either." Naruto laughed and walked to the front of her desk.

"Who says I was trying to stay unseen." Jessica rolled her eyes but put her flask down to address the issue in the room.

"We both know why you're here, webhead, and to start, no I don't know how I got my powers. I was in a car crash when I was a young girl, left me orphaned but afterward I was able to do the things I do." Naruto nodded, sitting on her desk and doing his best to look her in the eyes and not let them trail down to the tank top she was wearing.

'Don't you start Uzumaki, you already have enough women on your plate.'

"And just what can you do, Jess? I understand the strength, but you didn't have a single scratch when you got out of that rubble." the woman responded with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I honestly don't know Spidey. I can punch hard, lift more, nothing even pierces my skin anymore, though I've never been shot so I don't know if I'm bulletproof. Hell, I can even fly, but I don't like to nor am I good at it." Naruto had to hold back his surprise at the flight admission and filed that away for later.

"Point is, I did my time as a hero, thinking I could help people. But I was young, I was stupid, and I made mistakes. One man… he's the reason I stopped." the hooded hero could tell it was a touchy subject, but Naruto considered Jessica his friend, and he cared about her.

"If you don't mind me asking, Jess, what happened?" Jess let out a sigh and took a swig from her flask.

"A man named Kilgrave, his nickname was the Purple Man, but I got careless and he could control people's minds. I ran into him controlling these gangsters for some easy cash and decided to be a big idiot and announce myself to him. I was 18… and he tried to take over my mind. Said he and I would have fun for a long time." Naruto felt a sinking feeling in his chest and pressed on.

"I'm sorry Jess, did he..." Jessica snorted and took another swig from her flask.

"No, but he tried. Held me for three months, but each time I fought him off long enough for him to call it pointless. After a while, I escaped and decided this hero stuff wasn't for a woman like me. That no matter how strong or fast I was, I can't out power men like him. People who are just evil to be evil."

"So where is Kilgrave now? I could track him down and-" Jones smirked and tossed the flask to Naruto.

"Kilgrave is dead, Spider. At least that's what I thought happened when I shoved my fist through his heart." Naruto smiled at Jessica's triumphant tone and decided to shift to the second reason he had come.

"Jess, I was going to ask you about this anyway, but knowing what I know now, I want to be transparent with you. I'm making a team, a group of individuals like us who can take the fight to these Demons, to fight fire with fire." the police officer's face turned to a frown.

"As much as I appreciate it Spider, but you're still a vigilante and I'm still a cop. I can't just throw on some pajamas and ignore work." Arashi understood her point which is why he knew he had to do this.

"I'm not asking you to work with superhero's Jess," Naruto removed his mask, causing Jessica's eyes to widen. "I'm asking you to work with me, Naruto Uzumaki." He could see the gears turning in the captain's head, connecting the dots until she started to laugh.

"I see your name in the paper all the time, every picture of Spider-Man I see you're credited. Of course, you and he would be the same. Alright, Blondie, you got my attention, what's the name of this group of yours?"

Naruto let a smirk cross his face. "The Defenders."

* * *

A black-haired woman walked up to a familiar apartment door and swallowed the lump in her throat. In her head, this had been easier, but now all she wanted to do was run away. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door three times and crossed her fingers. The door opened with and the familiar sight of blond hair, as well as a blond beard, graced her sight. The taller man looked down at her with shock in his eyes and she struggled to not cower under his gaze. "Hey, Naruto."

"Cindy."

"I figured we needed to talk, may I come in?" the blond seemed to debate even talking to her but opened the door of his apartment. The woman walked inside, and the blond man cursed his luck.

"This is gonna be a long night."

 **And scene. I hope all of you enjoyed this installment of Brand New Day. I debated for a long time how much I wanted to put in and set up this chapter, but I feel like I found a good balance of character building as well as action. I apologize if you found the beginning slow, which is why I made the ending more action-packed. Naruto is now Arashi, and you can see I made a few adjustments to the Noir suit to fit his ninja vibe. And I've now introduced The Punisher, Luke Cage, and even revealed the powers of Jessica Jones. The line up will primarily be the four of them and Daredevil, but how will Naruto keep the Punisher and Matt from fighting over their methods? I'm sure all of you noticed how deadly Naruto is now, and it's for good reason. The Demons are a constant reminder of what he can't have. A way home. Combined with their clear disregard for life, like he said, fire with fire. I'm sure you all have questions, which is what reviews are for! Ask away and I respond to nearly every single one of them! Alright, I've talked enough, I hope you all have a great day! SoldierOfTheSea, over and out!**


	11. Black, White, and Red All Over

**This. Took. Forever. I try to write shorter chapters for this story but I'm starting to think it's impossible at this point. I've been on a massive gaming binge, which is why I made a whole other story before this chapter. I want to thank everyone for the massive support of this story! I think we're getting close to the longest and top-rated fic in our little genre, so thank you for all the follows, favorites, and even more for reviews. I respond to every single one of them! All I can say now is, I hope you have some popcorn because we just kicked it into high gear. Enjoy!**

 ***Edit - Due to some well-made criticism, I've rewritten the first scene. To those who read prior, I hope this is more consistent with the tone I've established***

"What're you doing here Cindy?" the blond wasted no time with his ex, watching as she set her purse down. She was wearing jeans, frost still coating her brown boots as she slipped off her winter jacket. A simple black sweater was underneath, a sweater he had bought her during Thanksgiving. He couldn't help but notice how both hugged her figure, showing off her curves and the top barely hiding what was underneath it.

'Stop, you won't go down this rabbit hole again.' Naruto told himself, doing his best to ignore the way the light reflected off of Cindy's lips. He thought about her more often than he would admit but didn't want to look at her and be reminded of what-ifs. She had betrayed his trust, that was clear. So why was he having to slow his heart rate when he was near her? Why was he watching her every move? The woman sighed and moved a lock of hair out of her face, she still couldn't shake the butterflies that sat in her stomach.

"I came to apologize Naru-" the blond snorted at the admission, leaning against his wall as she sat down on his bed. The older woman glared at him yet continued, reminding herself that he had every right to be mad at her. "Just let me finish. Ever since you disappeared all I focused on was worrying about you. Whether you were alive or not… did you even consider that the last time I saw you, you were staring down a giant lizard creature hurt to hell? For God's sake Naru, I couldn't sleep for a week because of you." Naruto processed her words, taking a moment to look at himself. He had already come to terms that he was being selfish with his self-imposed exile, but to hear it from her point of view, he could see her anger.

"Connors was, a challenge, and in the end, he took something from me, something I can't get back." the blond looked the woman in the eyes, and both could see the pain they still carried from that night. However, blue met brown, and steeled, "Doesn't justify, what you did. Nothing will." Cindy sighed again, hands moving to her arms instinctively from how cold she had felt that night.

"I'm not saying I was in the right, Naruto, but for once just think about someone other than yourself. I know you're a superhero and all but my world doesn't revolve around you. I still had to wake up every day and live my life down on the ground. Harry was… just there." the raven-haired woman could almost feel the temperature in the room spike as she said her lover's name. Looking her ex in the eye, she could see his barely restrained rage, a flicker of red crossing his icy blue. Cindy waited for a response but none came and continued to speak. "I had never meant to betray you, even in my weakest moments I held onto you. One day, I invited him to come to the library with me, get out of his millionaire shell, but I just broke down. He comforted me and I just kissed him. Just once, I told myself, that was my only moment of weakness. But the way he looked at me… it felt like the first time in forever I had control over my life, and I let him. I told myself that you were gone, that I was only doing it to stop being depressed, that I didn't enjoy it. But all of those were lies. I fell for him, and I hate that I did. I wish I was strong enough Naruto, but I wasn't."

Naruto listened, and to his disappointment, couldn't find the capacity to hate her for it. She had been depressed, and Harry was there for her, and he was too busy being in his muck to reach out to the woman he supposedly loved. He looked at Cindy, searching for any reason to forgive her, but there was still only sorrow and disdain. He thought of what could've been, where they could've gone if things had been different. Cid took a deep breath, wiping a stray tear from her eye, and continued once again.

"When I had found your present, it was like a fog had lifted. I had heard that you were still sending stuff into the Bugle, but knowing I had come this close to seeing you again… I'm just sorry, Naru. I know I can't change things but I needed to say something. I missed you, Naru. If anyone deserves your anger it's me, not Harry." Naruto locked eyes with Cindy, and couldn't help the scowl that appeared on his face. She didn't get to come back into his life to manipulate him, use his heart against him. Spider-Man might've fallen for that, but he was Arashi now, and he had made enough mistakes keeping bridges where there were none.

"Both of you deserve something, each other. Do you know how much restraint it's taking from me, to not scream and shout until morning? To not put a hole in my wall with my bare hands because I can?! But that wouldn't change the past, it wouldn't change what you did." the blond towered over her and slowly let Kurama's chakra leak out, feeling slight steam rising from his body. "I don't hate you, Cindy, but I will never forgive you or Harry for what you did. In spite of everything you've done to me..." Naruto truly only hated two people, Negative and Kaguya, but Cindy Moon was damn near close. The fewer enemies Naruto Uzumaki had to deal with, the easier it would be in the long run, but Naruto could accept the fact that not everything could be forgiven, not everything could be fixed. "I'll play nice, for Mary Jane's sake, she's the only one who still gives you the time of day." taking a deep breath, the vigilante uncrossed his arms and ran a hand through his hair.

"Get out."

"Naru-"

"Get. Out. Please." Naruto watched as the woman got up from his bed, tears starting to stream from her eyes, hoping that he would call her back. The blond only stared, and Cindy knew she couldn't win. Watching his door close, the blond let out a breath and fell onto his bed. He would need his rest for an early morning.

 **Hours Later**

Naruto Uzumaki stared out of his bedroom window, dressed in his shinobi gear with his mask in hand. He checked his watch, it was 3 A.M, and the hours prior had been interrupted with something he wasn't sure how to feel about. Kurama had been quiet since he had awoken from his slumber as well, which unnerved the blond even more. Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh, but then what? Let her walk all over him again? No, he was done being used, which was why his mind lingered on what had happened prior.

" _I missed you, Naru."_

The words were ironic and painful, she had moved on. Found a new boy toy, forgotten about him, placed herself over the reality that she had allowed her weakness to gain the upper hand. The burner phone in his pocket rang, the familiar gruff voice of his blind friend getting him out of his head.

"Hey, we're all here. You better hurry though, I don't know how much more of Castle I can stand."

"I'm on my way." closing the phone, Naruto took one last look at his room, the spot where Cindy had been too many times before, and dove out his bedroom window.

* * *

The blond arrived at the safe house to a near comical scene. Frank and Matt were arguing across the table from each other, Jessica was pacing and checking her phone every few seconds, while Luke was talking to a young blond in green that made Naruto narrow his eyes. Frank was first to notice him, "Nice of you to join us, kid, didn't think you were gonna show." the blond rolled his eyes under his mask and lowered his hood, clearing his throat and getting the rest of the room's attention.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming, first things first, Luke, who's this guy? I don't remember him being on the guest list." the unknown in question walked up to Arashi and bowed.

"My apologies for showing up unannounced, my name is Danny Rand, and I want to join this group of yours."

"And what makes you think you're qualified, I mean, Luke obviously wouldn't of let you come here if he didn't think you were worth my time, but gotta prove it to me." Danny looked deep in thought for a second, seemingly having an internal debate for he smiled. Naruto had to hold back his shock when his fellow blond threw a lightning-quick jab at the masked vigilante's head, one that was blocked last second by Arashi's forearm. Everyone was alarmed at the act, Frank, and Matt pulling out their weapons in defense of the masked man.

"Everybody, relax, you want to join us, Mr. Rand? Show me what you got." Danny smiled and jumped away from his opponent, allowing both to take a good look at each other. Danny was wearing a green button-up that was left halfway open, allowing Naruto to see the large dragon tattoo that covered his chest. The sleeves were rolled to his elbows, with yellow hand tape wrapped in a similar way to his own. A pair of green pants, as well as comfortable shoes, finished his outfit, the man's face gaining a smile as both sized each other up. Naruto gave a come hither motion, inviting his fellow blond to dash forward, sending a roundhouse kick to Arashi's head, one that was blocked by a forearm as Danny twisted to avoid two kicks coming his way. Naruto decided to go on the offensive, sending an elbow towards the man's face, Danny leaning back as his opponent sailed over him. Recovering from his miss, Arashi, spun around with a combo of hooks and jabs, ones that Danny matched with speed and intensity. Luke rolled his eyes, both of them were enjoying it a bit too much, and cleared his throat.

"Stop playing around Danny, show him why I brought you here." Danny looked at his friend and nodded, jumping back, and took a deep breath. Naruto wondered what he was doing before he felt a massive spike of energy from the man. Danny held down a yell of adrenaline, instead choosing to ignite his fist, a yellow glowing aura surrounding it. The blond man rushed forward and jumped into the air, fist cocked back with a fury in his eyes.

" **As strong as you are, I recommend you avoid getting hit by that,"** Kurama spoke to his container, not wishing to test the limits of his healing abilities. Naruto nodded inwardly, but instead, chose to channel the Bijuu's chakra into his fist and met his fellow blond in the air, a small shockwave sounding from the clash. Danny landed, shocked at how the masked man was able to counter his move with something so similar. Naruto had to hold back a laugh at his gobsmacked opponent.

"You're not the only one who knows how to harness their internal energies." walking forward, the shinobi put out his hand, a gesture that was well received by the green-clad man. "Nice to have you on the team. Though forgive me, I've never heard of you before." Danny smiled.

"Daniel Rand is only the heir to the large corporation known as Rand Industries, but my true calling is as the Immortal Iron Fist, guardian of K'un Lun." Naruto sweatdropped at the name, noting in his head at how cool it sounded.

"Are you boys done yet? Because as much as I enjoyed watching you two spar, we have more pressing matters to discuss." both men had the decency to apologize to the older woman, the police captain finding their bout impressive, yet unnecessary.

"My bad Jess, but speaking of, I suppose we should all be properly introduced. I think everyone knows who I am except you Castle." Frank grunted at being left out but ultimately the Marine didn't care. All that mattered was the mission, and the masked vigilante was a powerhouse that wanted to work with him. Taking off his mask, Naruto looked at the other individuals in the room. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I was once Spider-Man, but now I go by Arashi. I brought you all here to join me in the fight to not only combat the demons but also to fight against the rising organized and unorganized crime in our city. I made the Defenders because of what we can accomplish together." the vigilantes looked at their leader, and couldn't help be enveloped by the man's charisma. Even Castle nodded along as the blond spoke.

'You become more interesting by the second, Uzumaki.' the older man thought to himself as introductions shifted to Red.

"Normally I wouldn't reveal my identity, but Naruto told me the only way _this_ works is with trust." Daredevil slowly moved his hand to his cowl, taking it off and adjusting his face forward. "My name is Mattew Murdock, and I'm Daredevil." Frank Castle was the first to speak, laughing to himself.

"You're telling me that I've been fighting a blind lawyer this whole time? I must be losing my edge." Matt rolled his eyes and "looked" in Frank's direction.

"Got a problem with it Castle, because I can still kick your ass seven ways to Sunday." the skull wearing vigilante stopped laughing and growled.

"I can still take you out with my bare hands Red."

"Castle." the stern voice came not from Naruto, but Jessica. "I recommend both of you stop before I throw you through that damn wall." Frank stared at the woman, smirked, and sat down, the introduction now falling to him.

"Name's Frank Castle, they call me the Punisher." Danny seemed confused at the name.

"Why do they call you that?" Frank only seemed to gain a predatory grin.

"Cause I punish people, kid." not wanting another argument to break out, Naruto gestured for Danny to introduce himself.

"Well, my name is Daniel Rand, Danny for short, and like I told Naruto, I'm the Immortal Iron First, guardian of K'un Lun. It's a pleasure to work with all of you." the curly blond bowed once again, gaining smiles from everyone in the room.

"The name's Luke Cage, though a lot of people seem to call me Power Man." it was Matt who spoke up this time, a quizzical look on his face.

"Heard you were bulletproof, that true?" Luke just nodded, throwing a glance to Frank, wondering if the man would try to test it. Castle instead rolled his eyes.

"I ain't gonna shoot you, big man, relax." Naruto laughed at the man before all eyes fell onto Jessica.

"I'm sure I don't need much introduction, but the name's Jessica Jones, I'm a Captain of the NYPD, though I suppose in the field you can call me Jewel." Jessica then proceeded to walk to a solid concrete wall and punch a fist-sized hole in it. "And that is just a glimpse of what I can do." the men seemed impressed at the feat, something Naruto admired.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, we need to get down for business." pulling out a map of the city, Naruto placed three markers down. "I've been doing some research into the underbelly of New York, and one thing is consistent. The local gangs, hired guns, all of them seem to either report to or give a share to one man."

"They call him the Big Man of Crime, or just the Big Man for short. My department has been keeping tabs on him but haven't come up with anything substantial." Jessica jumped in, "Luckily, a few of our worms caught onto a possible raid going on later tonight."

"It's why I wanted us to meet up early this morning. I know all of us have civilian lives to go back to in the morning, but any reconnaissance would make your jobs easier. Word on the street is that the takeout from the hits would be over 1 million dollars. With Jess's help, we were able to narrow down three spots." Naruto pointed to the first marker. "Midtown Bank, supposed to be getting a brand new set of unmarked bills to trade out this evening." pointing to another marker, Jessica cut in.

"Another possibility is the Fine Art Museum by Central Park. I heard they had received a new shipment from Europe, 20 pieces of new art. Would make whoever this big man is a pretty penny if he got his hands on them." nodding along, Naruto then moved to the last marker, which made him frown.

"The last possible place we've been hearing about is ESU, but I don't know why. I haven't heard anything about anything valuable being there, especially with Dr. Connors' death. He was the pioneer for anything valuable that could be stolen." not wanting to dwell on it, the blond moved onto issuing orders. "I want us to work in pairs, gather any information we can during the day, meet up at your assigned places at sundown. Cage and Rand, you guys have the Art Museum. Castle and Murdock, I want you two to take the bank, don't kill each other in the process." Matt grunted and Frank rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry Red, I'll play nice tonight."

"Which leaves me and Jess for ESU, we'll keep in contact through the burners, anything pops off you call for backup." letting go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, Naruto rubbed his beard. "You're all free to go, just stay on your toes out there." the new members of the Defenders all nodded at the information given, saying their goodbyes and conversing with their partners. Matt nodded his way before leaving alongside Castle, with Luke and Danny leaving together as well.

"It never gets any easier, webhead." Naruto turned to see Jessica was standing next to him, a knowing smile on her face.

"What do you mean by that, Captain?"

"Leading, you've been by yourself for so long, you're not used to it. Give it time, blondie, I can tell everyone in here respects you, myself included." the black-haired beauty checked her phone with a huff. "I need to get to work, but I'll text you if I learn anything. Where are we meeting up?" the blond hummed in thought.

"Meet me on top of the Coffee Bean on campus, I'll text you." Jessica snorted at the blond.

"Already asking me out to coffee, Spidey?" Naruto smiled at her.

"What kind of coffee do you like?"

"... black with sugar." and with that, the police officer left him alone to his thoughts. The blond sat in silence, checking his watch to see that it was already 5 in the morning.

"You've been suspiciously quiet, what are you thinking buddy?"

" **While I might not have been with you when you started your relations with that Moon woman, but I'm still inside your head. I saw how much you cared for her."**

"Thanks, Kurama, I just, I don't know how Gwen fits into this. I care for her I do, but at this point, I wonder if I should try anymore. Who's to say I should even find something stable again."

" **You can't predict the future, Naruto."**

"I know buddy, I know." looking at the time once again, the blond sighed and put his mask back on. "I just pray it's a simple day today.

 **9:00 a.m: Empire State University**

Naruto looked at the two women in front of him, chatting about the latest drama they could latch on to, and checked his phone again. Jess had texted him a few times already, though nothing substantial. Just rumors of something being transported to the school and being held there. The blond took another bite of his breakfast sandwich and stared at a nearby television in the dining hall. "Moving onto current events, astronaut John Jameson, having recently landed from his crew's exhibition to the moon, is teaming up with millionaire philanthropist, Norman Osborn, to study what we are to believe is the first concrete evidence of alien life." the news reporter then shifted to the two men in question getting interviewed.

"When I returned from space, and my crew had found a seemingly living being on the outside of my ship, we didn't know what to do. Out of anyone in this city, I trust Norman Osborn and his scientists at Oscorp to study our findings, as well as this creature, and I feel with their help, we could pioneer a new front in our understanding of the universe." John looked at Norman and the older man nodded in confirmation.

"And I can't tell you how thankful Oscorp is to be given this opportunity, which is why for the first week of testing, we will have the alien life on display for the public at Empire State University. The display will be headed by my son Harry, as well as the newest edition to ESU staff, Otto Octavius." Naruto took a drink of his water before spitting it out as he heard the last half of what the elder Osborn said.

"What the fuck!?" Mary Jane had to hold in a laugh as her blond friend cleaned up his side of the table.

"I thought you had heard Naru, they're putting on a whole show in the Science Hall later today," Gwen told him, giggling alongside her friend as she watched the blond wipe up the water.

"Guess I got the short end of the stick on that one." the secret vigilante mumbled to himself, seeing the text that Jessica had sent him.

"Did you see the news?"

"Yes"

"Good… FUCK!"

That one got a chuckle out of him before he looked back up and noticed Gwen was staring at him, knowing he was usually never that attached to his phone. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just got a funny text from-" his train of thought was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. Checking the caller ID, the blond nearly had another spit take. "Cindy?!" Naruto watched as Gwen's look of concern turned into a deadpan glare, an action so quick he almost laughed.

"Well…" MJ spoke up, throwing him a sympathetic smile. "You gonna answer it? Must be pretty important if she called you." the blond looked to Gwen, hoping she would argue against it and was disappointed to see her continue to stare at him.

"See what the she-devil wants, Fishcake." sighing at his terrible luck, the blond put the smartphone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Naru! I'm surprised you picked up."

"Cindy. I'm starting to question why I did."

"Oh don't be rude, I'm trying to help you." the blond grunted, prompting her to continue with her purpose of calling. "Fine, you know about the exhibit right?"

"As of 5 minutes ago, I do. Why?

"Well~, I was just wondering if and the girls wanted to come by early and see it before the public, Harry said I could bring anyone I wanted."

"Right. You sure that's a good idea?" the blond crossed his fingers in hopes that Cindy still had a brain.

"Yep! Besides, as I said, I'm trying to help you. You can get some pics for the Bugle before anyone else does." as annoying as it was to talk to her, the older woman made a good point.

'That and scope out the area for any weak points. I guess there's an upside to this after all.' the blond thought to himself, doing his best to ignore the small back and forth that MJ and Gwen were having in the background.

" **Seems so, just tread carefully kit, I have a bad feeling about this."**

"Alright, we'll be there. When do you want us?"

"ASAP, I'm just waiting outside the Science Hall with Harry. See you soon!" with the parting remarks, she hung up, leaving the blond shinobi to turn to his friends. Gwen shot him "the look" and crossed her arms.

"What did she want?"

"She invited us to see the alien before it opens to the public." Mary Jane perked up at that.

"That was nice of her, and it means you can get the first pics before the rest of the media." Naruto nodded in agreement, not surprised that the redhead was following his train of thought. Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Figures she gets a backstage pass, perks of fucking the guy in charge." MJ playfully hit Gwen's shoulder as Naruto laughed at the joke, giving both blonds a look of her own.

"I have an amazing poker face, but I fear Mary Jane, that Gwen won't be able to hold her tongue." the man teased his friend, causing the commissioner's daughter to huff in indignation,

"You both know I don't like her. But fine, I'll play nice." Naruto smiled at that and kissed her cheek in appreciation, gaining a blush and 'shut up' in response.

* * *

Walking up to Cindy and Harry, Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that his spider-sense would be going off if he still had it. The two were sitting on a nearby bench, the young millionaire hand in hand with the raven-haired woman before she looked up at the three and waved them over.

'Ugh, I already regret my decision.'

"So glad you guys came! Harry has been telling me all about it and I'm excited to see it." Mary Jane smiled, and Naruto nodded, gesturing to the camera that was hanging around his neck. Gwen stuck behind him, glaring daggers at the woman.

"I don't believe we've ever met, the name's Harry Osborn, Cid has been telling me good things about you." the man was around the blond's height, with his brown hair perfectly combed and an all too perfect smile. He was the exact opposite of his father.

'At least his dad faced down Connors with a shotgun, I distinctly remember him running away.'

 **"If you have a cynical thing to say after everything he does, I'm going to tune you out."** the blond took Harry's hand and squeezed, hoping to get a response, only to get an equally powerful squeeze in return.

'Okay, guess he's not all looks either.' both men nodded at each other before letting go. 'I still don't like this, Kurama.'

" **I believe that's called jealously, kit."**

'Fuck you, you overgrown carpet.'

 **"But you're right, he seems stronger than most meat bags you know."**

"Charmed. I've seen a bit of your work at Oscorp, you guys are doing great stuff over there." the blond had another snarky remark to add, but was silenced by the dull headache Kurama caused.

"Oh enough boring stuff, I wanna see aliens! C'mon Harry!" Cindy grabbed her boyfriend's arm and began to drag him towards the door. Gwen huffed and grabbed onto Naruto's left arm, more so for comfort. The blond let out a sigh as she leaned up to his ear.

"I'm surprised you didn't break his hand with your strength."

"Me? I'm astounded Cindy hadn't caught on fire with how hard you were glaring." Gwen rolled her eyes at the joke but a small smile managed to appear regardless.

"Could've put a 2-inch wide hole in between her eyes, but you wouldn't have approved." Naruto smiled at the dark humor and pulled her alongside him, MJ laughing alongside the couple. Walking into the building, Naruto was shocked to see a large glass container in the center of the foyer, with multiple men in lab coats surrounding the pod. There was security at every window and entrance, armed in full kit. The blond began to take pictures, noting to himself that the guards weren't NYPD or ESU.

'Oscorp private security, they aren't pulling any punches with this thing. Castle would be jealous by the amount of firepower in here.' following his ex, Naruto noticed the various amounts of monitors that were set up, hooked up to the containment unit, measuring things like temperature and oxygen levels. The five adults walked up to the glass, Harry taking charge to explain just what they were looking at.

"When my dad and I were brought the alien, we were amazed at its ability to expand and contract at will. Though it looks small now, it can move pretty fast for black goop. If anything, it's organic space mud, but it reacts to stimulus just enough for us to believe it might just be intelligent." Naruto took in his words, staring at the mass of black goo. It seemed alive, but there was nothing exactly special about it besides the ever-changing material.

"Which is exactly why I wanted to continue tests before making things public, Mr. Osborn." a strong voice sounded out from behind the group. He was tall and brown-haired, with a pair of goggles sitting on top of his head. The man was about as old as Connors was, give or take a few more years. He had a look of authority as well as knowledge, someone who knew he was smarter than everyone in the room but took pride in the fact that he worked for it. The most surprising trait, however, was the four metal arms that were attached to his back from a harness around his waist, allowing the scientist to defy gravity and stay suspended in the air.

"I told you, Otto, it's just for a week. Besides, maybe it'll react to thousands of people seeing it." Harry shifted into business mode, giving a stern look at the older man. Octavius looked down at the man, seeming to hold back a snarky remark, but refrained. "C'mon Otto, Oscorp pays the bills, you get exposure and funding for all your projects." Harry smiled back at the group, throwing his hands out in a dramatic gesture as the doctor lowered himself back to the ground. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I proudly introduce the man spearheading our operation here, Professor Otto Octavius. Doc, these are my friends and girlfriend, Cindy Moon, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and-"

"Naruto Uzumaki, Connors would talk to me nonstop about you. Said you were his brightest student but were often distracted by life outside of his class. Brilliant, but lazy." the blond smiled at the doctor, remembering the countless stories that Dr. Connors would tell him about the genius in front of him.

"Dr. Connors talked about you at length as well, Professor. Especially your theories for renewable energy, I wish the three of us could've worked together before he passed." Otto nodded at the thought of his late friend. He was heartbroken when he heard of Connor's death, even more so when the circumstances came out about him as the Lizard. Harry watched as the two continued their conversation, a glare slowly making its way onto his face. Cindy was the first to notice, squeezing his hand, and kissed his cheek. The last thing she needed was for Harry's ego to add to the already bursting tension in the group. Gwen looked at the two and smirked, holding Naruto's arm tighter as the two men continued their banter. Otto checked his watch and clicked his tongue.

"I apologize, I have to go prep the display for the opening. It was nice meeting you ladies, Mr. Uzumaki, I hope you and I can have more than a simple chat. Good day, Mr. Osborn." the man paid his farewells as his arms lifted him above the ground, taking him towards the elevator where Connor's office used to be.

Watching Octavius walk away, Harry took control once again, parading them around and doing his best to show off his knowledge of current operations. Meanwhile, Naruto continued to take as many pictures as he could, making mental notes on the patterns of guards as well as the placement of cameras. Soon enough. Harry's tour was over and the group was left back to staring at the alien. Naruto checked his phone, sending a few details to Jess before MJ cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Hey, tiger, what do you say me and you head to the Bugle? The rest of my day is pretty boring and I want to ask Robbie if he has any stories for me." Naruto took a moment to think, but ultimately he had more important things than lectures to deal with right now.

"Sure thing, MJ, Gwen you wanna come?" the blonde in question pursed her lips in thought but shook her head cutely.

"Nah, I'll be good, I need to get some actual work done today. Plus I told Bobby and Johnny I'd meet them at the airport today. Appreciate the tour, Harry… Moon." Gwen spun around with a sickly sweet smile on her face, causing Cindy to internally fume at the girl but the older woman held herself back. No need to put make herself look worse in front of Naruto. Speaking of, the secret vigilante said his goodbyes alongside Mary Jane, the pair thankful to have made it through the meeting without an incident, and walking out of the science hall and towards MJ's car.

* * *

"Well, that went better than I thought." the blond started, eyes staring out of the window as they stopped at yet another traffic light.

"I agree, I was worried Gwen was going to make well on her joke." that made both Bugle employees chuckle, knowing that no matter her anger, Gwen was still the daughter of a cop, and followed the law to a tee. "She took the situation with Cindy to heart, she'll move on, but the anger isn't healthy for her." Naruto agreed but didn't necessarily find that a bad thing. They pulled up to the Daily Bugle in all its glory, moving through the lobby quickly and calling for an elevator.

"I can't say I'm not holding a grudge myself. Cid came and apologized to me last night." MJ raised an eyebrow, closing the elevator door with the press of a button.

"You didn't tell us back at school?"

"Mostly because I didn't accept it. I'm tired of her throwing my feelings around with no consequence, MJ." the elevator door opened and a scream was heard from JJ's office.

"Uzumaki! I need you front and center! If you aren't at my desk in the next 10.2 seconds, I'll have your life!" Naruto blinked, a few times, debating whether to be thankful for Jonah's antics or wary of the fact that he was called the second he stepped into the newsroom. MJ sighed and gestured her head in a "we'll finish this later" motion, before breaking off to find Robbie, leaving the blond alone in front of Betty's desk.

"Hey, Naruto, nice to see you today, I was wondering if you were avoiding me lately." Betty Brandt teased playfully, buzzing Jonah's desk that the blond was waiting outside his office. Naruto smirked, taking in the woman's form and smile.

"Betty, avoiding you would be a crime, besides, you deserve to deal with normal people once in while after all you do for JJ." the brunette laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't I know it, I'll see you later Naru."

"See you, Betty." walking into Jonah's office, the blond walked into his boss's office, greeted by the familiar scent of a cigar as well as the form of someone he had never seen before.

"Ah Uzumaki, you showed up. I was just about to have Ms. Brandt file your separation package." the bearded man rolled his eyes and smiled at Jonah.

"Didn't expect to be called so soon, considering I just walked in." Jonah scoffed and took another drag of his cigar.

"I own the damn building, blondie, I've got eyes and ears everywhere. Now, enough talk, let's get to the brass taxes. Uzumaki, I need you to show this freelancer the ropes, get him started on some good photo ops and any tips to nab that menace Spider-Man." Naruto was taken back by the request, turning to face the other occupant in the room. The man was built, a few years older than himself, and stood a head taller than him. He had a short crop of blond hair and a cocky smile. The man shot out his hand, a grin present on his face.

"The name's Eddie Brock, I've seen a lot of your work."

"Naruto Uzumaki, I aim to please." taking his hand, Naruto felt the firm shake and returned one the same, wondering how many more surprises would come his way.

"Alright, alright! Both of you knuckleheads get out of my office and get me some quality pictures, NOW!" pushing the two men out of his office, Eddie was the first to speak.

"So, any tips from a pro like yourself?" the bearded blond laughed and gestured for the man to walk with him.

"The biggest thing I learned? Keep the shots simple. Same for whenever I write an article, keep the main point the focus. It takes a bit, but Jameson knows how to make a paper run. Let him trust you enough and you'll get a staff job." the pair had ended up in the lobby, Naruto giving his number to the man.

"Appreciate it big man, and just letting you know, once JJ sees my pics of Spidey, you won't have to worry about it anymore." this caused the vigilante to pause.

"What do you mean by that?" Eddie scoffed and gestured to his camera.

"I've been in the game for a while man, not to say that your pics are bad by any means, just that your work is a little… let's just say outdated." Brock pointed to the camera sitting around Naruto's neck before he spun on his heel and began to walk away. "Thanks for the tips pal!"

Naruto groaned and checked his phone once again. It was the middle of the day, but he had no intention of going to school again. Shooting a quick text to MJ, Naruto walked out of the Bugle and sighed into the cold air. 'Hey, Kurama?'

" **Yes, kit?"**

"You wanna spar in the mindscape until it gets dark?"

" **I thought you'd never ask."**

 **10:30 p.m: Coffee Bean ESU**

Perking up at the sound of footsteps in the snow, Naruto looked behind him to see the one and only Jessica Jones walk up to him. She was in a simple black leather jacket, a purple shit underneath, along with blue jeans and some combat boots. She was wearing a black scarf around the lower half of her face to protect her identity, though he could tell it also served to keep her head warm. The blond smiled as he raised his mask and sipped at his coffee, offering another cup towards her. "Glad you made it, I was fearing your coffee would get cold."

The captain lowered her mask and took a sip of the warm liquid. "Wouldn't want to miss the show, mmm, you remembered my coffee." the raven-haired woman looked towards the Science Hall and frowned. "How long have you been scoping the place?" Naruto shrugged, looking into his binoculars once again.

"Two hours at least, I kinda took a nap earlier."

"Right, what're we looking at, webhead?"

"Seems like minimal security, two on the roof, three on the ground watching every entrance. Haven't been able to figure if there are any men inside, but anyone still here is a contractor, no civies in the area." Jess nodded and began to crack her knuckles.

"Good, means that if anyone shows up I can let loose." Naruto agreed with her before the sound of squealing tires got his attention.

"Looks like we got company." two armored vans pulled up to the entrance of the Science Hall, men with rifles pouring out, killing the guards immediately.

"Damn it, call it in Jess." Jones dialed the number on her burner phone, only to receive various yells on the other end.

"They're hitting the Art Museum, heavy stuff, we could use some backup." it was Luke, clearly out of breath.

"Same on the bank, these guys are well trained. How are you two fairing over there at the campus?" Jessica cursed to herself, seeing the game that was being played.

"They're hitting every place at the same. Whoever this Big Man is, he knows that the NYPD would barely be able to handle one attack, let alone three."

"Good thing we're not the NYPD. Tell everyone to protect their buildings, the less they steal the better." standing up, the blond finished his cup of joe and pulled down his mask, leaping off the building with Jessica right behind him. Jess decided to make a loud entrance, landing on top of one of the armored cars and crushing the vehicle beneath her feet.

"Hey, dumbasses," the armed men turned in alarm at seeing one of their vehicles crushed underneath the form of the woman. "I recommend you don't enter that building." the leader of the group pointed his rifle at the vigilante.

"What happens if I blast your head off and do it anyway."

"Then you have to deal with me." the group of men turned to see Arashi, arms crossed, standing in between them and the entrance. Making the first move, the shinobi grabbed a thug's head and threw him towards Jewel, the latter catching the man and slamming him into the ground. The leader cursed and told the rest of his men to disperse, gunfire flying towards both heroes. Arashi dove away, getting as much distance he could before forming a few hand signs. " **Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!** " the blond forced his hands forward, a large gust of wind shooting towards the group before a large man in a suit stepped in front of the mercenaries.

"Would you look at that, someone's trying to mess with the Big Man's plans." a low, Italian accent sounded out from the dust. He was wearing a blue and black striped suit, cigar in his mouth, with an overly large and flathead. The man cracked his knuckles and looked between the two vigilantes before focusing on Jewel. "Guess Hammerhead's gotta take over now. Boys, waste 'er!" Arashi's eyes widened behind his mask as the armed men trained their weapons on Jessica's exposed form.

"Damn it!" he knew it would be risky, he still needed to get used to the technique, but he had no time and the blond didn't want to test if Jess was bulletproof or not. Focusing on her position, Arashi disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing right next to Jewel before he flashed her out of harm's way. Jewel looked at him with amazement in her eyes as he had transported them on top of a nearby building.

"Did you just fucking teleport?!"

"It's called the Hiraishin, but pretty much. I'm still getting used to it though, so I can only use it three times before tearing myself apart." the woman nodded at his words and yelling into her mask.

"What other crazy stuff are you hiding from me?"

"A lot, but now's not the time Jess. We need to take care of these guys fast." Naruto looked over to the Science Hall, only to see a familiar feminine form crawling in through the room. "I'll go check on the alien, make sure Hammerhead didn't already nab it. Think you can handle him on your own?" Jewel nodded at him before smiling under her scarf.

"I've got an idea, think you can manage one more teleport?

"I'm listening."

* * *

"Fan out! Find those two and bring their skulls to me! No one messes with the Big Man and gets away with it!" Hammerhead screamed out, scanning the horizon for any sight of them. "No way they just up and ran." the large man mumbled to himself before he heard a whistling in the air. The mobster looked up before screaming scatter, only to hit the ground as Jewel landed a momentum filled downward punch to his skull. He bounced off the ground in pain, only to get up and wipe off a speck of blood from his lip.

"Is that all you got, dame?" Jewel shook out her hand and got into a fighting stance.

"Guess they call you Hammerhead for a reason, let's dance big guy!"

* * *

Having heard the resounding crash from Jessica's surprise attack, Naruto crept through a circle-shaped hole in the glass skylight, not being surprised at the slender woman that stood in front of the glass container and the various unconscious security guards strewn about the ground. Arashi watched as she took out a device and seared a hole through the layered glass.

"Come to mama." the white-haired woman's advance was stopped as a thread of web pulling her to the ground. Landing in front of her, Arashi crossed his arms and smirked behind his mask.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" a sly smile replaced Black Cat's look of shock as she dusted herself off, amused by the line.

"If it isn't Spider-Man, I was wondering when I would run into you again after our first date."

"Well, you did leave quite the impression." the man shifted into a fighting stance as the two began to circle each other. "How about you tell me what the game is here Cat?" the woman clicked her tongue and shook her head, pouncing on the hero faster than he expected and sending him headfirst into a table of equipment.

"Now you know I don't kiss and tell, Spidey, how about you tell me where you've been?" shooting a few webs in her direction, Arashi leaped to grapple the slender woman, closing the distance and grabbing her into a headlock.

"Oh you know," the hooded blond applied pressure, asserting his control over the situation. "I was out for the holidays, us good guys take breaks too." Naruto narrowed his eyes, determined to not let her escape from him again. "So, tell me why you're here before I choke you out and leave you strung up for the NYPD to find." Black Cat struggled against her attacker before she pressed her rear into his crotch. Neither occupant noticed, however, the alien goop crawl its way out of its container and begin to move up a wall.

"A very important man offered a tidy sum of money for the black sludge over there. Figured I could get a piece of the pie if I got it before his lackey Hammerhead did." Naruto unconsciously loosened his grip on the woman, doing his best to listen and remain unfazed by her actions. But, it was just enough for Black Cat to elbow him in the stomach, claw off the lower half of his mask, and kick him into a nearby wall. Arashi was fast enough to recover midair, unknowingly landing feet first into the black tar-like alien, the goo like substance attaching itself to his foot. The sultry woman jumped up to him, capturing his lips in a similar way she had the first time. It ended just as quickly though, the cat burglar kicking off of him and jumping towards the ground. "Gotta say, I don't mind the beard, but I prefer some stubble." Black Cat shot her grapple gun at the hole she had made earlier, giving the blond a two-finger salute as she fled the scene.

"Cat! Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me?" shooting a web line in her direction, the vigilante was prepared to give chase before Jessica flew through the glass doors, sliding across the ground with a groan.

"Note to self, don't get hit with his head." the woman groaned as she got to her feet, Naruto jumping down to her side.

"I suppose he's a lot tougher than he looks." a pained nod was all he received, his partner cracking her neck. 'Guess it can't get any worse, at least I kept Cat from getting the alien."

"What the hell is going on here!?" the pair looked towards the elevator only to see Dr. Otto Octavius shocked at the destruction. The man noticed the webs laying around and raised a brow. "Spider-Man?" Naruto cursed under his breath.

"Don't worry Doc, we're on your side, lots of people are gunning for our extraterrestrial visitor." the doctor registered his words and ran to the containment unit only to shout in shock.

"The alien, Spider-Man, it's gone!"

"What!? I was with Black Cat the whole time, there's no way she grabbed it." Jewel looked at him and furrowed her brow.

"That must mean Hammerhead has it, but when?" they were soon interrupted by the sound of a helicopter landing, causing both vigilantes to curse at the same time.

"Just stay in here and call the police Doc, we'll try to get it back." the pair ran outside, leaving the dejected doctor to shake his head.

"So much for this gig," he muttered to himself.

* * *

"Shit, they took off already." Naruto cursed watching as the small chopper with Hammerhead and a few goons began to head towards the skyscrapers. "Even with my web-shooters, I wouldn't be able to swing fast enough and catch them." Jessica frowned before looking at her partner in the eye.

"But I can hold on webhead." the raven-haired woman stood behind her hooded counterpart, wrapping her arms under his and with a determined look in her eyes, lifted the two of them off the ground, rocketing towards the retreating helicopter. The pair began to catch up, Jessica doing her best to maintain her speed and altitude.

"We're close Jess, just a bit more," Naruto shouted at the woman, deciding to prep a mini Rasenshuriken in his hand.

" **Be careful kit, you haven't made one in a long time."** the blond nodded inwardly, waiting until he had a clear shot on target. Rearing his hand back, Arashi lined up his shot, only to watch in horror and surprise as Hammerhead leaned out of the carriage with none other than an RPG in his hands.

"JESS!" with his concentration lost, neither of them were fast enough to react as the projectile was fired, rocketing towards them in the air. Jessica, not knowing the extent of her blond partner's durability, twisted in the air, allowing the rocket to impact her back. The explosion shook the nearby buildings, shattering a few as the couple fell out of the sky. Naruto's eyes snapped open, half of his costume seared off with most of his face exposed to the cold winter air. He quickly realized that he and Jess were falling out of the sky, the raven-haired woman a decent distance away from him. Both his arms were burning, which meant his web-shooters were most likely destroyed in the blast. Jess looked far worse for wear, a majority of her clothes singed off from the explosion. The blond felt time slow down, watching hopelessly as they fell.

'No, c'mon Naruto, do something!' he didn't have enough focus to summon Kurama, and the fox himself was quiet, which meant he was on his own. Deciding to take the chance, the blond aimed his right hand and pressed down on where the trigger would be, taking himself by surprise as a black web line shot out from his wrist. Pulling Jess to him, the blond acted off muscle memory, grabbing the woman by the waist and shooting out another web line to a nearby building. He swung with grace and precision, not noticing the black substance begin to spread across his body, and landed in front of a nearby hospital, Jessica's unconscious form in his arms.

"This woman needs medical attention, now!" the people outside the hospital only stared in shock but the blond ignored them. The blond screamed again, becoming more and more frustrated by her actions. A group of paramedics from a nearby ambulance rushed over to the two, allowing the blond to set his friend down into a stretcher. "Will she be okay? Tell me!" one of the men held him back as Jess's body was taken back to the emergency ward. "Let me see her!"

"You'll see her after she's alright, Spider-Man, just calm down." the blond paused at the man's words, taking a step back in confusion.

"How do you-" he began to trail off as he caught a glimpse of himself in a window. His body was covered in a slick black costume, a large white spider in the center of his chest, the legs stretching around to an identical one on his back. Two white squares were on the top of his hands, with two pure white lenses where his eyes would be.

"Guess I found the alien, or… it found me."

 **Before I start, I just want to say I value every reader I have, and it's heartbreaking to hear someone want to drop my story because of the most recent work. Similar to a Youtuber, my content doesn't come out all at once. One chapter at a time, I get a feel for my audience, and when your base is gone, you make no progress. If I didn't care about what people thought I wouldn't post it, and I hope those of you who have reread, I can hope to stick with me for the long haul. I'm not perfect, and even as the author, I can still have a bad take. Thank you to those who voiced their criticism.**

 **Wow, 8800 words later, and we have introduced 5 major Spider-Man characters (as well as Danny Rand) into this story. I hope the flow was consistent in this chapter, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what I've done with the storyline so far. A big thing I'm debating on is if Naruto should date around, or stay in committed relationships. The symbiote is going to mess with that for the time being, but please, tell me your thoughts! I hope all of you have a wonderful day, read, review, and I'll see you all next time!**


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